Singapore’s antitrust watchdog has approved the merger of the world’s two largest shipbuilders, Hyundai Heavy Industries confirmed Tuesday.

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore concluded the screening process by saying in a notice that “there is no disagreement about the approval of a tie-up between Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.”

KSOE is a subholding company of HHI group’s shipbuilding and offshore business.

This is the second time overseas competition authorities decided to approve the deal without conditions. Last year, Kazakhstan’s competition authority approved the merger for the first time.

“We expect that the Singapore authorities’ decision to approve unconditionally will have a positive impact on the ongoing review of the merger in other countries, including the European Union,” KSOE said,

The deal will be completed when the world’s two largest shipbuilders get approval from antitrust watchdogs of six regions, including South Korea, the European Union, Japan, China, Singapore and Kazakhstan.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)