Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), South Korea’s second-largest shipbuilder, is rebranded as Hanwha Ocean, dropping the nearly 50-year-old Daewoo name following Hanwha Group’s takeover.
According to local media, the name change was accepted by Hanwha Ocean shareholders during a meeting on Tuesday, where new board members were also elected. Hanwha, the country’s seventh-largest company, also finalized its planned payment of 2 trillion won ($1.52 billion) to acquire freshly issued DSME shares.
With 49.3 percent of Hanwha Ocean, the group has become the largest stakeholder, while the state-run Korea Development Bank maintains the No. 2 shareholder with 28.2 percent.
Kwon Hyuk-woong, the newly appointed president and CEO of Hanwha Ocean, has committed to replicate DSME’s previous glory as the world’s and Korea’s No. 1 shipbuilder under the new banner by embedding Hanwha Group’s technology-first corporate culture. Hanwha Ocean let go of 28 directors from DSME’s old board while keeping 15 members.
Hanwha Group had been eyeing DSME for nearly 14 years, and this acquisition has been a long time coming. The company launched its initial effort to acquire DSME in 2009, but failed. This acquisition also marks the end of DSME’s lengthy debt rescheduling scheme, which had been in place since 2001.
