Creditors of Korea-based company Hyundai Cement Co. are seeking a debt workout for the country’s No. 3 cement maker as it is grappling with rising debt and a debt guarantee for its affiliate, industry sources said Friday.

The creditors will make a final decision on whether they will put the company under debt workout next week, they said.

The creditors said Hyundai Cement and its affiliate, Sungwoo Engineering & Construction Co, have been facing financial difficulty due to a slowdown in the local construction sector.

Hyundai Cement, which started as a cement business unit of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. in 1958, was spun off from the construction company in 1969.

It posted a profit of 17.4 billion won (US$14.5 million) last year, bouncing back from a loss of 68.2 billion won a year earlier.

But the company, which has an annual capacity of 7 million tons of cement, recently shut down some of its plants in the wake of the slumping construction sector. Hyundai Cement also runs a leisure-related business.