Dongbu Construction Consortium "Discovering High Value-Added and Niche Markets... Securing Competitiveness of Hanjin Heavy Industries"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] The Dongbu Construction consortium announced on the 24th that it will work to strengthen the competitiveness of Hanjin Heavy Industries' shipbuilding and construction sectors.

The Dongbu Construction consortium was selected as the preferred bidder for the acquisition of Hanjin Heavy Industries on the 22nd. The consortium stated, "Dongbu Construction is recognized as a successful model, having achieved corporate normalization five years after court receivership," and added, "Through Dongbu Construction's crisis management and management know-how, we will be able to achieve an early strengthening of Hanjin Heavy Industries' competitiveness."

Since the Dongbu Construction consortium has sufficient successful experience and know-how in the construction industry, it judged that early strengthening of the construction sector is possible through enhanced business synergy. In the shipbuilding sector, the plan is to maximize Hanjin Heavy Industries' strengths to enhance competitiveness.

The Dongbu Construction consortium said, "We are well aware that strengthening shipbuilding competitiveness and maintaining employment are important issues related to the sale of Hanjin Heavy Industries," and added, "To strengthen shipbuilding competitiveness, we will maximize strengths in the defense special ship sector and thoroughly analyze high value-added ships and niche markets in the shipbuilding sector to strengthen them with differentiated strategies." They continued, "Due to the nature of the order-based industry, by continuously securing orders through these strategies and increasing the current operating rate of the Yeongdo shipyard, early company stabilization will be possible."

Additionally, the Dongbu Construction consortium clarified the employment succession of Hanjin Heavy Industries. The consortium said, "The stock purchase agreement of Hanjin Heavy Industries guarantees employment succession, and our goal is to leverage technical skills to make it a proper company," and added, "There was confidence in business synergy regarding employment stability and additional job creation for the normalization of shipbuilding, and developing or disposing of the Yeongdo shipyard site for purposes other than shipbuilding was never considered."

They further explained, "Since graduating from court receivership, Dongbu Construction has achieved early management normalization through labor-management coexistence, and without artificial workforce restructuring, it has continuously hired new personnel every year, creating a virtuous cycle structure where the workforce has increased by about 30% since graduating from court receivership."

The Dongbu Construction consortium judged that despite uncertain economic conditions, there will be various business opportunities in the construction and shipbuilding sectors aligned with the global eco-friendly trend post-COVID-19. They also explained that early competitiveness enhancement is possible through business synergy with participating companies in the consortium.

Dongbu Construction is the representative company (SI) of the consortium, and NH PE-Opus PE is the financial investor (FI). In particular, investment will be made based on funds from the NH PE-Opus PE fund. Unlike general private equity funds, this fund is a corporate financial stability fund that supports corporate turnarounds by supplying liquidity to the restructuring market. The fund aims to contribute to corporate stabilization and normalization.