[Exclusive] Samhwa Paint to Change Corporate Name... "SP Samhwa" Emerges as Leading Candidate

Completed "SP Samhwa" trademark registration in January
80th anniversary and new CEO appointment as catalysts
Aiming to redefine its brand as a "comprehensive chemical company"

Samhwa Paint Industrial Co. (Samhwa Paint) is pushing for a corporate name change to mark its 80th anniversary. With third-generation owner CEO Kim Hyunjung taking office, the company intends to redefine its identity as a comprehensive chemical company through the name change.

According to the paint industry on the 4th, Samhwa Paint plans to submit an agenda to revise the articles related to its trade name change at the shareholders' meeting scheduled for the 26th of next month and amend its articles of incorporation. The leading candidate for the new corporate name is "SP Samhwa." According to the Intellectual Property Information Service (KIPRIS), Samhwa Paint completed the registration of the trademark right for "SP Samhwa" on January 15. This came two months after it filed for the trademark right on November 20 last year.

Samhwa Peinteu Gongeop Corporate Identity

Trademark 'SP Samhwa' registered with the Intellectual Property Information Service (KIPRIS).

A Samhwa Paint official said, "The new corporate name has not been finalized as 'SP Samhwa'; we are reviewing various names," adding, "We are pursuing a name change to go beyond the limited business domain of paint, secure global competitiveness, and leap forward as a comprehensive chemical company."

Analysts say Samhwa Paint's decision is also related to the deterioration of its business environment. The paint industry is being squeezed by high interest rates, a strong won-dollar exchange rate, unstable trade conditions, and a slump in the construction industry, which is a key downstream sector. Unlike competitors with a high proportion of industrial sales such as shipbuilding and automobiles, Samhwa Paint is heavily dependent on architectural paint, making it particularly sensitive to changes in internal and external conditions.

CEO Kim Hyunjung, who took over management after the death of her father, Chairman Kim Jangyeon, faces the task of escaping these structural constraints and securing new growth engines. Samhwa Paint's consolidated operating profit last year was 9.5 billion won, down by half from 18.9 billion won a year earlier. Samhwa Paint plans to reverse this trend through its secondary battery business, the development of security ink for the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation, and the fostering of waterproofing materials and fire-resistant coatings.

The origin of Samhwa Paint dates back to Donghwa Industry, founded in 1946. The history of the Korean paint industry began when the late Chairman Kim Bokkyu and Chairman Yoon Hoejung built the country's first plant dedicated to paint. The company later changed its name once to Samhwa Chemical Industry in 1953 and has used its current name, "Samhwa Paint Industrial Co.," since 1964.

Samhwa Paint is composed of architectural and industrial paint manufacturing, an IT segment, and other segments. Its subsidiaries include SM2 Networks, an information systems company; Samhwa Logitec, a freight forwarding company; and UCH Partners, which engages in investment and advisory services. Samhwa Paint established Samhwa Realty, a real estate asset management company, in December 2024, and in the second quarter of last year it sold a 51% stake in Samhwa Daelim Chemical for 4.5 billion won.