This article was published on Dec. 3, 2025, at 3:38 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site.
Byucksan Engineering's affiliate Byucksan Power will be sold to GNS ENG, a company specializing in electrical and information and communications construction. Byucksan Power and Byucksan Engineering have undergone corporate rehabilitation procedures as deficits accumulated after large losses occurred on overseas construction projects.
On the 3rd, according to the investment banking industry, Byucksan Power recently selected GNS ENG as the final prospective buyer. Multiple strategic investors participated in the bidding for this acquisition, reportedly competing against each other. The power design and supervision industry that Byucksan Power belongs to is effectively an oligopoly with a small number of major players, and companies hoping to enter this sector are believed to have shown interest.
This transaction will be carried out in the form of a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase. Byucksan Power will issue new shares and sell them to GNS ENG without selling existing shares. The entire sale proceeds will flow into the company. Because liabilities exceed assets, the stakes of existing shareholders such as Byucksan Engineering are expected to be extinguished. In corporate rehabilitation procedures, when liabilities exceed assets, rules require reducing equity according to the principle of creditor priority.
This Byucksan Power sale was pursued using a stalking horse approach, in which the advisor finds a potential buyer to set a stalking horse bidder and conducts competitive bidding in parallel. GNS ENG, the stalking horse bidder, offered a higher price than the competing bidders and was chosen as the final acquirer.
Byucksan Power was established in 2009 when the power business division of Byucksan Engineering was spun off in kind. It provides power facility design, supervision and engineering services. It has carried out various power-related projects such as power plant and transmission and substation design, smart grid construction and demand response (DR). While undergoing corporate rehabilitation procedures, it is also pushing to establish a branch for consulting services for Ethiopia and Nicaragua projects as well as for Rwanda's national grid expansion project.
Byucksan Power entered corporate rehabilitation procedures after recent continued poor performance. Byucksan Power recorded sales and operating profit of 72.1 billion won and 6.2 billion won, respectively, at the end of 2022. However, last year it turned to a deficit with sales of 26.4 billion won and an operating loss of 13.2 billion won. With total capital turning negative 13.8 billion won, it ultimately filed for corporate rehabilitation in March. Accordingly, Korea Ratings also downgraded Byucksan Power's credit rating from BB- (stable) to D.
Byucksan Engineering and Byucksan Power are known for the housing brand Byucksan Blooming. The Blooming brand rights, filed by Byucksan Construction in 2006, were transferred to Byucksan Enterprise in 2016. As of the end of last year, Byucksan Enterprise held 19.97% of Byucksan Engineering's equity.
GNS ENG's purpose in pursuing the acquisition of Byucksan Power is to expand into the fields of power design and supervision. The goal is to build a value chain that connects design and construction to supervision to achieve synergy. An industry source said, "If it secures its own design capabilities, it can internalize design and engineering margins when winning construction contracts." Byucksan Power is registered as a specialized supervision company under the Power Technology Management Act.
Byucksan Power has completed drafting its rehabilitation plan and is preparing explanatory materials to persuade creditors. The creditors' meeting that will vote on the rehabilitation plan will be held on the 18th of this month. If creditors agree to Byucksan Power's repayment plan that day, GNS ENG's acquisition will be finalized.