Formal Organization of Former Business Support TF Personnel
Ahn Joonghyun Leads the Team, Accelerating New Business Development
It has been confirmed that a specialized mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team has been established within the newly reorganized Business Support Office at Samsung Electronics last week. With President Ahn Joonghyun, a renowned "big deal expert," at the helm, and key executives who previously handled major M&A projects in the former Business Support Task Force (TF) joining the team, expectations are rising that Samsung Electronics will accelerate its efforts to discover new business opportunities.
According to industry sources on November 13, a new M&A team has been formed within the Business Support Office at Samsung Electronics, in addition to the existing Strategy Team, Management Diagnosis Team, and People Team. While there were already personnel responsible for M&A during the Business Support TF era, the recent reorganization into the Business Support Office has led to these professionals being restructured into a separate, formal organization.
The M&A team is led by Ahn Joonghyun, President of Samsung Electronics. After joining Samsung Electronics in 1986, he has worked in the Future Strategy Office and the Business Support TF since 2015, overseeing major M&A projects, including the acquisition of Harman, a U.S. automotive electronics company. Notably, he played a significant role in 2014 when Samsung pursued "big deals" such as the divestment of Samsung Techwin, a defense and aircraft engine company, as part of its "non-core business restructuring and focus on core competencies" initiative. Samsung Techwin was acquired by Hanwha Group in June 2015.
Subsequently, he led the Future Industry Research Division at Samsung Global Research in 2022, then moved to the Management Support Office at Samsung Electronics in April last year. Through this latest organizational restructuring and personnel changes, he has now been appointed head of the M&A team in the Business Support Office.
Additionally, Vice President Lim Byungil, Vice President Choi Kwonyoung, and Executive Director Koo Jacheon have also joined the M&A team.
Vice President Lim graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in International Economics and earned an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has worked at Credit Suisse, UBS Korea, and Samsung Securities. In 2022, he was in charge of the Samsung Business Support TF and oversaw M&A operations.
Vice President Choi, formerly of the Planning Team at Samsung Display, moved to the Business Support TF earlier this year and has now joined the M&A team in the Business Support Office following the latest reorganization. Executive Director Koo holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Northwestern University in the United States. He began his career at Samsung Electronics as a senior researcher in 2007, worked in the IT division at Bain & Company in 2011, joined the System LSI Planning Team in the DS Division at Samsung Electronics in 2019, and moved to the Business Support TF in 2022.
Industry insiders believe that with the establishment of the M&A team within the Business Support Office, Samsung Electronics is likely to accelerate both the strengthening of its business competitiveness and its pursuit of new business opportunities through M&A. For example, the Harman acquisition, in which President Ahn was involved, saw Samsung Electronics spend $8 billion (approximately 9.34 trillion won at the time) in 2017. Harman has since become a core business pillar, generating about 1 trillion won in annual operating profit. In addition, Harman acquired Sound United, the audio division of U.S. company Masimo, for approximately 500 billion won, while Samsung Electronics recently completed the acquisition of a 100% stake in FlaktGroup, Germany’s largest HVAC company, for 1.5 billion euros (about 2.5 trillion won).
A business industry official stated, "Forming the previously existing M&A personnel into a formal team and organization is seen as a move to enhance accountability and responsibility for their ongoing work, thereby strengthening business competitiveness."
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