By Choi Kyong-ae
Hanwha Group, a chemicals-to-finance conglomerate, said Thursday that it has completed the acquisition of two affiliates from Samsung Group, a move to strengthen its petrochemical business.
Hanwha has finished the job of acquiring a 57.6 percent stake in Samsung General Chemical and a 50 percent stake in Samsung Total. The two companies are now called Hanwha General Chemical and Hanwha Total, the company said in a statement.
In his New Year's speech, Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn said, "Hanwha has strongly pushed to reorganize its business portfolio even if major businesses show stagnant growth. We will put a bigger focus on our mainstay petrochemical and defense businesses to be a competitive player in global markets."
In late November, Hanwha Group reached a deal to take over four Samsung affiliates, which also includes Samsung Techwin and Samsung Thales, two defense-related firms, for a combined 1.9 trillion won.
"The group plans to wrap up the deals to acquire the two remaining companies by June," a Hanwha Group spokesman said Thursday.
At a shareholders meeting Thursday, Hanwha paid an initial payment of 412.4 billion won out of the total acquisition money it agreed to pay over the next three years, the statement said.
If Hanwha finishes acquiring the four Samsung units, the group will be the ninth-biggest conglomerate by assets in Korea.
In 2014, Kim Seung-youn, now 63, formally stepped down from Hanwha Group after he was convicted and received a suspended sentence for illegally diverting funds from healthy affiliates to weaker companies he owned. He is no longer involved in the group's key management decisions but maintains the chairman post, according to the group.
In 2012, he received a four-year prison term for breach of trust in a purge by the judicial system against the wrongdoings by chiefs of Korea's family-run conglomerates. He served part of the sentence but was released to a hospital in early 2013 for treatment of an unknown illness. In 2013, the sentence was reduced to three years after an appeal and then suspended for five years.
Hanwha Group, a chemicals-to-finance conglomerate, said Thursday that it has completed the acquisition of two affiliates from Samsung Group, a move to strengthen its petrochemical business.
Hanwha has finished the job of acquiring a 57.6 percent stake in Samsung General Chemical and a 50 percent stake in Samsung Total. The two companies are now called Hanwha General Chemical and Hanwha Total, the company said in a statement.
In his New Year's speech, Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn said, "Hanwha has strongly pushed to reorganize its business portfolio even if major businesses show stagnant growth. We will put a bigger focus on our mainstay petrochemical and defense businesses to be a competitive player in global markets."
In late November, Hanwha Group reached a deal to take over four Samsung affiliates, which also includes Samsung Techwin and Samsung Thales, two defense-related firms, for a combined 1.9 trillion won.
"The group plans to wrap up the deals to acquire the two remaining companies by June," a Hanwha Group spokesman said Thursday.
At a shareholders meeting Thursday, Hanwha paid an initial payment of 412.4 billion won out of the total acquisition money it agreed to pay over the next three years, the statement said.
If Hanwha finishes acquiring the four Samsung units, the group will be the ninth-biggest conglomerate by assets in Korea.
In 2014, Kim Seung-youn, now 63, formally stepped down from Hanwha Group after he was convicted and received a suspended sentence for illegally diverting funds from healthy affiliates to weaker companies he owned. He is no longer involved in the group's key management decisions but maintains the chairman post, according to the group.
In 2012, he received a four-year prison term for breach of trust in a purge by the judicial system against the wrongdoings by chiefs of Korea's family-run conglomerates. He served part of the sentence but was released to a hospital in early 2013 for treatment of an unknown illness. In 2013, the sentence was reduced to three years after an appeal and then suspended for five years.
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