Daelim Industrial to split into holding, construction, petrochemical operations

2020.09.11 10:29:06 | 2020.09.11 15:42:09

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South Korea¡¯s Daelim Industrial Co. will relist after demerging into holding and operating entities that would separately oversee construction and petrochemical units.

The company¡¯s board on Thursday okayed a plan to create the holding entity DL Holdings, construction unit DL E&C and petrochemical unit DL Chemical. The company names are not final and could change at a later date. The company also filed with the securities authority to relist after the demerger.

Daelim Industrial shares fell 6.03 percent to close Friday at 87,200 won ($73.5).

Under the proposal, Daelim Industrial will demerge to DL Holdings and DL E&C, with the companies to hold 44 percent and 56 percent of the shares, respectively. DL Holdings will spin off its petrochemical business to create DL Chemical and hold a full stake in the new petrochemical company.

Daelim is seeking shareholders¡¯ approval on Dec. 4 with an aim to launch the new holding entity on January 1, 2021. It plans to make DL E&C its subsidiary by having it undertake a share swap agreement with the holding company.

¡°Having two very different businesses like construction and petrochemical under one roof made it difficult to create business synergies,¡± a company official said. ¡°(With the demerger), the two companies will now pursue different growth strategies to maximize shareholder interests.¡±

Experts expect Daelim¡¯s new holding company structure to help improve its corporate transparency. The company also plans to expand its internal trade committee into a governance committee that would be filled entirely with outside directors.

DL Holdings is expected to focus on supporting the growth of Daelim units and coordinating their operations. DL E&L will accelerate its digital transformation to achieve greater productivity with an aim to become a total solution provider. DL Chemical will expand its low-cost material businesses while venturing into new areas like lubricants and medical new materials to become one of the world¡¯s top 20 petrochemical companies.

Daelim recently merged its construction units Samho and Korea Development to create Daelim Construction Co., which is Korea¡¯s No. 17 construction company by execution capacity.

In March, Daelim Industrial completed the $530 million acquisition of Cariflex, the chemical business unit of U.S. Kraton Corp., in what was the Korean company¡¯s first overseas buyout.

By Sohn Dong-woo and Kim Hyo-jin

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