KG Dongbu Steel Included in KOSPI 200

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] KG Dongbu Steel announced on the 28th that it has been newly designated as a KOSPI 200 component stock.

The Korea Exchange designated a total of 11 KOSPI-listed companies as newly included or excluded from the KOSPI 200 components the previous day. Among steel stocks, KG Dongbu Steel was the only company newly included.

In particular, the reason KG Dongbu Steel attracts attention is that until as recently as August last year, it was a workout company under joint creditor management. This signifies that in just over 10 months, it has successfully rebounded from a distressed company to a representative company of South Korea.

Because of this, KG Dongbu Steel received great attention as a successful case of the Corporate Structural Innovation Fund at the Financial Services Commission’s market-centered restructuring activation meeting on the 28th. Since KG Group acquired it last September, KG Dongbu Steel has undergone the most notable transformation in the market. The acquisition by KG Group helped the company escape from a state of complete capital erosion, improving its debt ratio to 158%, and with the removal of its designation as a management item in March 2020, investor anxiety and concerns have completely disappeared.

A KG Dongbu Steel official said, "The results are due to the organizational culture reform and multifaceted cost reduction efforts pursued after joining KG Group."

Meanwhile, KG Dongbu Steel is also making investments to secure future competitiveness. To produce high value-added products, it is steadily preparing to reemerge as a leader in the surface treatment industry by investing in the construction of two new color lines at the Dangjin plant and building a comprehensive research institute.