Korean Air-Asiana Corporate Merger Completed... "Full Stop After 4 Years"

The corporate merger between Korean Air and Asiana Airlines has come to a close after four years.

With the final approval from the European Commission (EC), the last hurdle for the corporate merger between Korean Air and Asiana Airlines has been cleared. On the 29th, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines passenger planes were waiting on the runway and apron at Incheon International Airport, Yeongjongdo, Incheon. The merger process between Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, which began in 2020, has entered its final stage after four years. Photo by Jo Yongjun

On the 11th, Korean Air announced that it completed the payment to acquire 131,578,947 new shares by participating in the third-party allotment capital increase conducted by Asiana Airlines.

The acquisition amount is 1.5 trillion won. Korean Air had already paid a contract deposit of 300 billion won in December 2020 and an interim payment of 400 billion won in March 2021, so the actual payment made on this day is known to be about 800 billion won. With this, Korean Air secured 63.9% of Asiana Airlines, becoming the largest shareholder.

Moreover, as of this day, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has not raised any objections such as antitrust lawsuits, so Korean Air is considered to have received approval from all 14 essential reporting countries for the corporate merger.

With the completion of both the new share acquisition and the corporate merger review, the acquisition and merger process between Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, which began in November 2020, has come to an end after more than four years.

Korean Air plans to incorporate Asiana Airlines as a subsidiary on the 12th, the day after the payment. The scheduled listing date for the new shares is January 3 of next year. Asiana Airlines plans to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on January 16 next year to proceed with the director appointment process.