Korea Development Bank (KDB) is withdrawing some of the funds it had injected into Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, DSME).
Korean media recently reported that KDB is considering selling part of its stake in Hanwha Ocean in a block deal. The bank’s officer noted, “Considering the future impact on the market, the bank plans to carefully decide how to handle the remaining stake.”
Since DSME got out of trouble in 2001, KDB has become the main force in the shipbuilder’s restructuring, aiming to get rid of the predicament of insolvency and resume normal operations. During this period, KDB and other creditors converted bonds into common shares to offset debts, with the aim of ensuring that DSME can operate stably. After the capital restructuring was completed, KDB’s shareholding ratio in DSME was 36.20%, making it the shipbuilder’s largest shareholder.
On May 23, 2023, Hanwha Group announced that it had completed the acquisition of DSME and renamed it Hanwha Ocean. With this, DSME’s 45-year history came to an end and Hanwha Ocean embarked on a new journey as a shipbuilding subsidiary of Hanwha Group. On the same day, Hanwha Group announced that it had completed a 2 trillion won capital increase in DSME, making it the majority shareholder with a 49.3% stake.
With the completion of the acquisition, KDB’s shareholding in DSME dropped to 19.5%. In addition, Hanwha Ocean’s share price has risen by more than 150% since the major shareholder changed from KDB to Hanwha Group. This means that no matter how many shares KDB sells this time, it is expected to make a sizable market profit.
Hanwha Group received approval from the Korea Fair Trade Commission in April 2023 to acquire DSME. After DSME merged into Hanwha Group and changed its name to Hanwha Ocean, the shipbuilder is catching up with the recovery of the shipbuilding industry, promoting the accelerated normalization of its business. Not long ago, Hanwha Ocean announced its first quarter results for 2025, achieving comprehensive revenue of 3.1431 trillion won, a year-on-year increase of 37.6%; and operating profit of 258.6 billion won, a year-on-year increase of 388.8%, both higher than expected.
Hanwha Ocean attributed the profit increase to its high-value-added order selecting strategy focusing on LNG carriers and the gradual reduction in the proportion of low-priced container ship orders.