DSME: new CEO, board and name after acquisition by Hanwha

DSME’s current board members approved the name change along with a set of new directors recommended by Hanwha.The DSME board scheduled a shareholders’ meeting for 23 May to finalise changes to the company after South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission approved DSME’s acquisition by the Hanwha group of companies. The approval came with a stipulation against anti-competitive operations involving military shipbuilding contracts.

The upcoming shareholders’ meeting will see nine new directors and auditors installed at the top of Hanwha Ocean.

Hanwha support division vice president Kwon Hyek-woong has been nominated as chief executive of the new Hanwha Ocean (former DSME Shipyard). Mr Hyek-woong earned a PhD in chemical engineering and previously served as chief executive of Hanwha TotalEnergies Petrochemical from 2018-2020. He has been leading the DSME acquisition team since September 2022. 

A 2Tn-Won (US$1.50Bn) rights offering involviing five Hanwha affiliates will also take place on 23 May. In December 2022, the South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group signed a deal to take over the shipbuilder. This followed an agreement in September 2022 in which Hanwha outlined an investment worth about US$1.53Bn in the South Korean shipbuilder for a 49.3% stake and managing rights in DSME.

DSME had set a target of US$8.90Bn in 2022 for all types of commercial ship orders, but won US$10.48Bn — 117% of its forecast. Besides LNG carriers, DSME signed contracts to build six container ships, one FPSO, and one naval vessel.

While EU regulators blocked a 2019 bid by Hyundai Heavy Industries to take over DSME because of concerns about the combined entity’s shipbuilding dominance in the LNG carrier sector, no such objections emerged in the Hanwha-DSME marriage. A large defence contractor, Hanwha figures to leverage DSME’s naval and submarine business to its advantage through the acquisition.