Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., South Korea's No. 4 builder, said Friday it has won a 510 billion won (US$438 million) deal to build a power plant in Libya.
Under the deal with General Electricity Co. of Libya, Daewoo Engineering will build the plant in Zwitina, southeastern Libya, by May 2013, it said.
Shares of Daewoo Engineering were trading at 10,500 won on the Seoul bourse as of 10:45 a.m., up 2.44 percent.
The deal came amid worsening diplomatic ties between South Korea and Libya over a controversial spy case, which could put massive construction projects carried out by South Korean firms into trouble.
The deportation of a South Korean diplomat suspected by the Libyan government of spying sparked diplomatic turbulence between the two countries in mid-July.
About 20 South Korean builders, including the local top builder Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., were conducting construction projects worth a combined $9.2 billion in Libya, whose construction market is the local builders' third-largest overseas market.
In the first six months of the year, the local builders won $104 million in new orders from Libya.