This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 1:53 p.m. on Sep. 10, 2025.
Financial investors (FIs) in HJ Shipbuilding & Construction (formerly Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction) are speeding up exits to recover their investments. The shipbuilding industry boom and the favorable winds from the Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation project "Masga" have combined to push the stock price higher every day. Senior FIs are understood to have already earned nearly double the invested principal.
On the 10th, investment banking (IB) sources said Eco Prime Marine Pacific Ltd., the largest shareholder of HJ Shipbuilding & Construction, sold 8,545,547 shares of HJ Shipbuilding & Construction on the market from March through last month, recovering about 91.2 billion won. Its stake fell from 66.9% at the end of last year to 56.6%.
The sales were due to stock sales following the exercise of equity sale put options by Eco Prime Marine Pacific's senior FIs, NH Private Equity (NH PE) and Opus Private Equity (Opus PE); they concentrated their selling last month and recovered about 49.9 billion won in August alone, roughly equal to their invested principal of 50 billion won.
As the shipbuilding industry boomed and HJ Shipbuilding & Construction's stock rose, NH PE and Opus PE appear to have begun full-scale recovery of their investments. They participated as FIs in September 2021 in the Dongbu Corporation-led consortium that acquired Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction, contributing 50 billion won to the special purpose company (SPC) Eco Prime Marine Pacific about four years ago.
At the time, the Dongbu Corporation consortium invested 325.7 billion won to acquire 66.85% of HJ Shipbuilding & Construction. The acquisition price per share was calculated at 5,851 won. Dongbu Corporation, which contributed 170 billion won to Eco Prime Marine Pacific Ltd., is reported to hold all of the subordinated strategic investor (SI) shares.
HJ Shipbuilding & Construction's share price, which had fallen to about 2,000 won—roughly one-third of the acquisition price—has been on a steep climb since the end of last year. Specifically, the rise began in November last year when orders continued, including four container ships for Europe and performance upgrades for the fast combatant ships (PKX-A), and recovered to the acquisition price level of 5,930 won by the end of last year.
This year the price climb became even steeper. Expectations for Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation grew with the inauguration of the Trump administration's second term in the U.S. in January, and that was followed by the announcement of Masga. HJ Shipbuilding & Construction was named a leading candidate to operate a U.S. Navy maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) specialized shipyard, pushing its stock price up to the 30,000-won level.
NH PE and Opus PE began selling 540,000 shares on March 10 and conducted a total of 12 on-market sales through the 29th of last month. They exercised their equity sale put options because the stock price was higher than the acquisition price per share; the initial disposal price per share was 9,007 won and rose to 17,000 won at the end. The average was calculated at 10,677 won.
There is also speculation that NH PE and Opus PE could earn more than four times their invested principal. They have sold about 67% of their total holdings so far, recovering twice their invested principal. If they dispose of the remaining shares at around 30,000 won per share, they are estimated to be able to recover more than an additional 120 billion won.
Meanwhile, HJ Shipbuilding & Construction is considered an MRO-specialized shipyard that has carried out numerous warship modifications and performance upgrades for the Republic of Korea Navy for decades, dating back to the Hanjin Heavy Industries era. Its consolidated sales for the first half of this year were 917.8 billion won, a slight decrease from the same period a year earlier, but operating profit turned positive at 10.8 billion won.