KDB first became involved with DSME in the late 1990s during a reorganization of the shipyard. In 2000, they became the largest shareholder with a position that accounted for 49 percent of the equity in the shipbuilder. Seventeen years later, in 2017, DSME completed a debt swap arrangement with KDB which saw the bank's position increase to 79 percent (if all the options are exercised) as part of a $2.8 billion recapitalization of the shipyard. DSME's corporate value however is reported to have declined from $4.8 billion when the bank first suggested its privatization in 2008, to a valuation of approximately $1.2 billion as of 2019.