Samsung Heavy turned down offer to buy Daewoo - KDB

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Heavy Industries turned down an offer to take over rival shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, the top shareholder of Daewoo said on Tuesday.

State-funded Korea Development Bank (KDB), which holds a 56 percent stake in Daewoo, said it aims to sign a deal to sell the shipbuilder to sole bidder Hyundai Heavy Industries once its board approves it in early March.

Hyundai Heavy, the world's biggest shipbuilding group, announced a share swap deal worth 2.1 trillion won (£1.54 billion) last month to take over second-ranked Daewoo and create a global heavyweight controlling over 20 percent of the market.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)