Soutth Korea's SK Innovation has decided to break off its negotiations to sell its subsidiary SK Lubricants, which was pushed ahead in order to improve its financial structure.

In an official announcement released on June 15, SK Innovation said, “The company had proceeded with negotiations to sell shares of its subsidiary SK Lubricants, but it decided to stop the negotiations in the end.”

As SK Innovation has seen the liquidity crisis due to a recent slump in the oil refining market, the company considered selling its subsidiary SK Lubricants to MBK Partners.

The industry believes that it is the price that stopped the negotiations to sell SK Lubricants. Earlier, SK Innovation reportedly tried to sell SK Lubricants at the price of 2.5 to 3 trillion won (US$2.3 to 2.7 billion).

SK Innovation is now expected to revive plans and focus on an initial public offering of SK Lubricants, almost three years after it first floated the idea, with a source saying that an IPO of as much as won 900 billion (US$820 million). SK Lubricants first filed for an IPO in October 2012, for a deal that could have net around won 1.4 trillion.