South Korean creditors to provide 1.1 billion pounds support to Asiana Airlines

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean creditors plan to provide 1.6 trillion won (1.1 billion pounds) of financial support to debt-laden Asiana Airlines to address the carrier's liquidity problems, the country's finance minister said on Tuesday.

Asiana Airlines' top shareholder said earlier this month that it would sell its entire stake in the carrier, bowing to pressure from creditors who had rejected Asiana's earlier request for support of 500 billion won.

Creditors now offered to buy perpetual bonds worth 500 billion won and set a credit limit of 800 billion won, among others, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said.

Speaking at a meeting, he also said creditors were targeting the sale of Asiana Airlines, South Korea's second-biggest airline after Korean Air Lines, within this year.

State-funded Korea Development Bank, the lead creditor for Asiana Airlines, declined to comment.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Cynthia Kim; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)