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DSME to become Hanwha Ocean following takeover

Photo: DSME website screenshot DSME-website-screenshot.jpg
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) is set to be rebranded as Hanwha Ocean as its takeover by Hanwha Group is completed.

Hanwha Group has been given the green light for its takeover of one of South Korea’s largest shipbuilders and the name change was proposed as an amendment to the shipyard’s articles of incorporation at a board meeting on Monday.

Shareholders will vote on the changes to the articles of incorporation on 23 May, when DSME is set to become a subsidiary of Hanwha Group. According to local reports the new name Hanwha Ocean has already been submitted to the authorities for trademarking.

Nine new directors have also been proposed with Kwon Hyek-woong, vice president of Hanwha's Support Division, nominated as the new head of DSME. Kwon led the acquisition team for the shipyard since September last year.

The takeover will end a 45-year long association of the Daewoo name with shipbuilding. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Heavy Machinery was established in 1978 when Daewoo took over Korea Shipbuilding & Engineering Corp, which had been set-up five years earlier in 1973.

DSME is one of big three of Korean shipbuilding along with Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI). A proposed takeover of DSME by HII was blocked by the European Commission (EC) in January 2022 as it would have given it a dominant position in the market for the construction of LNG carriers. 

It is the second well known shipyard name change in recent months with Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine becoming Seatrium in late April following the merger of the two yard groups.

TAGS: Asia DSME