Hanwha Chief Goes Back to Work with Massive Deal

No sooner had disgraced Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn finished his community service sentence for corruption than the conglomerate announced it is buying four chemical and defense firms from the Samsung Group for W1.9 trillion (US$1=W1,108).

Hanwha will acquire a 32.4 percent stake in Samsung Techwin, which in turn owns a 50-percent stake in Samsung Thales, a joint venture with French arms manufacturer Thales International.

Hanwha Chemical and Hanwha Energy will buy a 57.6 percent stake in Samsung General Chemicals, which also has a 50-percent stake in Samsung Total Petrochemicals, a joint venture with the French oil company Total.

The deal, Korea's biggest since the 1998 Asian financial crisis, makes Hanwha Group the country's ninth-largest conglomerate with assets totaling W50 trillion.

Hanwha has promised to keep on all 8,200 current Samsung workers, but whether the tainted conglomerate can keep the pledge remains to be seen.

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