Struggling South Korean ore carrier owner Polaris Shipping is shoring up its business against would-be buyers after fending off the advances of a local consortium.

The company, which has a relatively high debt-to-equity ratio of about 500%, is understood to be in refinancing talks.

Sources familiar with Polaris said a local firm, Hoban Construction, and a subsidiary of a Chinese private equity fund spent KRW 150bn ($105m) in June to buy a 25% stake in the owner, which was held by private equity fund Polaris Ocean PEF.