“KDB will concentrate on the disposal of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) as soon as possible, rather than price,” new Chairman Kang Seok-hoon of Korea Development Bank said.
Chmn. Kang revealed his position on pending issues, including the sale of DSME and the relocation of KDB headquarters to Busan, at a meeting of reporters marking 100 days in office.
The meeting took place at KDB headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Sept. 14.
“Outcomes of a consulting service on DSME showed that the shipbuilder is required to make continued R&D investments and management efficiency,” said Chmn. Kang, adding, “Since it is hard under KDB’s current regime, it’s important to leave it to another investor.”
He added that the issue would be decided through discussions by related ministers, including the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) under an industry perspective, not following to outcomes of the consulting service.
As for a possibility of split sale of DSME, Chmn. Kang said KDB cannot attach several conditions, like no split sale, amid a situation in which a faster sale is significant.
Since DSME is now not in a position in which it lacks cash, he said, KDB will speed up sale procedures while continuously taking steps to ramp up competitiveness.
As for HMM, the nation’s flagship liner operator, has been normalized, he said KDB would carry out a sale process through consultation among related ministries.
Chairman Kang also spoke of a possibility of disposing KDB Life, which is getting better on the back of rising interest rates.
“KDB’s articles of association stipulate faster sale in the case investment purposes are achieved, so it’s right for KDB to sell them according to the principles,” he said.
Chairman Kang reaffirmed his stand to push ahead with a project to relocate KDB headquarters to Busan.
He explained the rationale of the relocation of KDB headquarters, saying, “KDB needs to play new roles to cope with a crisis the national economy is facing with.”
“KDB should spearhead efforts to make Korea a global economic power by ripping off the shackles of low growth,” he said.
“In particular, the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongsangnam-do area should become a new battlefield of the 4th Industrial Revolution to achieve a sustainable growth of the national economy, and I’ve been given new roles to resuscitate the area.”
Chairman Kang said, “It’s up to me to fulfill a matter decided by the government as a national task.”
He said he cannot retract the matter decided by the national chief executive. President Yoon Suk-yeol plans government to implement a national task of relocating KDB headquarters to Busan.
President Yoon told KDB Chairman Kang to relocate KDB headquarters to Busan as soon as possible at an emergency economic and public livelihood meeting held at Busan New Port in Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do, on Aug. 31.
Chairman Kang also revealed a plan to support the national semiconductor industry to help the national economy make a new leap forward.
“KDB is considering offering a combined 30 trillion won in financial support to the semiconductor industry for the next five years,” Kang said.
KDB plans to implement projects to help the Korean economy make a leap forward by designating less than five industries on top of the semiconductor sector, he said.
KDB will strengthen the completion of supply chains by refining the analysis of the supply network to ramp up economic security and concentrating support on raw materials, parts and equipment sectors, while supporting efforts to secure a variety of unmatched technologies, he said.
KDB plans to expand climate change financing to transform the industrial structure and support digital transformation while ramping up support to innovative industries.
Chairman Kang emphasized the need for overcoming super-low economic growth by developing new promising industries, and KDB will become a financial institution responsible for raising the national economy’s GDP growth 1 percentage point.
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