An employee with LS Cable & System (LS C&S) looks into undersea cables at the company’s plant. (Photo: LS C&S)

LS Cable & System (LS C&S) won a 100 billion won undersea cable order from Bahrain, the company said on March 3. Under the turn-key deal, LS C&S will lay 25-km-long submarine cables to connect Bahrain Island and Hawar Island.

Korea’s leading wire and cable maker won the order to supply everything, including submarines cables, electricity and installment, from Saudi EPC company Al Gihaz.

The project is to be completed by September 2021.

Hawar Island in the Gulf of Bahrain of the Persian Gulf is two-thirds the size of Ullung Island in Korea.

The island boasts pristine natural landscape. The Bahrain government is developing the island into a tourism destination.

It plans to build an undersea power network to be linked with a power grid of the mainland island to preserve the island’s ecosystem instead of building a power plant.

Global cable manufacturers, including European and Japanese companies fiercely competed in the race to win the project, which is part of eco-friendly projects being implemented by the Gulf Cooperation Council, and expand more future business opportunities.

LS C&S said its track record of implementing long-distance projects, such as the 105 km-long Jeju-Jindo Power Grid Network, a 100 km-long project in Qatar, and a 35 km-long one in the United States, contributed to the Korean cable maker getting the latest deal.

LS C&S President Myung Roe-hyun said, “Suppliers are selected through comprehensive consideration such as products, construction capability and economical feasibility since power networks are closely to social disorder, caused by national security and power outages.”

LS C&S is aggressively exploring overseas markets, and the cable maker is expanding domestic investment, he added.

LS C&S’s cable business is putting on a right track as the company conquered the Taiwanese marine cable market whose value was estimated at 500 billion won last year.

The cable maker invested about 50 billion won in Donghae City, Gangwon-do, in which its second undersea cable plant is to be dedicated in late March.

LS EV Korea, Subsidiary of LS C&S, to be Listed on KOSDAQ

LS EV Korea (CEO Noh Jae-Hoon) announced on Feb. 18 that the company would submit the registration statement to the Financial Services Commission and be listed on the KOSDAQ at the end of March.

LS EV Korea supplies wiring harnesses for electric vehicles, battery pack components, and ESS components to global automakers such as Volkswagen, Volvo and BYD, and LG Chem.

They are core components that supply power to electric vehicles or operate and control sensors.

The number of shares to be offered will be 15 million, with a price ranging between 5,500 won and 6,100 won. The total offering amount is expected to reach 82.5 billion won to 91.5 billion won.

Demand will be forecast on March 11~12, and general subscription will be received on March 18-19.

The company said it was planning to increase investments in equipment and technology with the money raised through the public offering and strive to grow into a global electric vehicle component specialist in earnest.

LS EV Korea was established in November 2017 as a result of a spinoff of the electric vehicle component division of LS C&S, which founded the company as a new growth engine. In 2018, sales amounted to KRW 218 billion, and the company has been growing so fast that it has already accumulated three years’ worth of supplies.

“Around 2030, the demand for electric vehicles is expected to exceed those of internal combustion engine vehicles,” said CEO Noh Jae-hoon. “LS EV Korea has production bases in key electric vehicle markets, namely Korea, China and Europe, and is quickly responding to the needs of global customers. It will benefit directly from the growth of the overall market.”

Six-hundred or higher voltage electricity, at least 50 times higher than ordinary vehicles, flows in electric vehicles.

LS C&S applied the high-voltage power technology to its existing automotive electric wire manufacturing technology in 2007, developed harnesses for electric vehicles, and has been expanding related businesses.