Many Koreans still remember their harsh life during the 1997-98 financial crisis. Many were kicked out of their workplaces and even those who survived the cold snap had to tighten their belt. It was the same with major conglomerates and financial firms, which were a major target of the IMF-directed austerity program.
In the business world, there was a frenzy of shutdowns and mergers and acquisitions, mostly directed by the government. Many companies disappeared or changed hands, with the severe restructuring hitting major firms belonging to such big groups as Samsung, Hyundai, Daewoo (now defunct), LG and SK.
One thing in common in the past restructuring was that all the mergers and acquisitions were choreographed by the government, not through voluntary actions of the companies.
It is against this backdrop that Samsung Group’s decision to sell its remaining chemical units to Lotte Group gives us some points to think about.
The nation’s top conglomerate said last week that it will sell Samsung Fine Chemicals, Samsung BP Chemicals and the chemical unit of Samsung SDI to Lotte Group for 3.26 trillion won ($2.86 billion).
The deal, coming on the heels of Samsung’s handover of four defense and chemical units to Hanwha Group in June, is seen as its continuing efforts to focus on core business, including electronics and finance. For its part, Lotte hopes the deal will help make chemicals its new growth engine.
In terms of volume, Samsung-Lotte deal is the largest business deal in the country since the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis. The Samsung-Hanwha deal was valued at 1.9 trillion won.
The size of the deals is not the only reason they should be lauded. The deals tell us that now some of the nation’s major groups are wise enough to abandon their long-held practice of laying hands on as many businesses as possible.
This broad operation of major conglomerates, which entails the risk of keeping and salvaging units with low competitiveness, often threatens the health of the entire group, and subsequently the overall strength of Korea Inc.
One such piece of evidence is that as many as 20 percent of affiliates belonging to the nation’s 30 largest business groups cannot cover interest payments with their own earnings — they are aptly called “zombie firms.” The nation’s manufacturing sector — the locomotive of Korea’s export-driven economy, shrank in 2014, for the first time since 1961. It would be strange if it had not.
More conglomerates need to follow the road Samsung is taking and focus on core businesses through restructuring. Urgent targets should be sectors wading through severe slumps, including the shipbuilding, shipping, construction and steel industries.
