The Australian government has taken measures to defend the Henderson shipyard of its domestic shipbuilding and defense corporation, Austal. This appears to be in consideration of the fact that its naval vessels are being constructed at the Henderson shipyard while the Hanwha Group is in the process of securing equity in Austal.
The Hanwha Group stated that securing equity in Austal is for strategic collaboration in major markets such as the United States and that there are no plans to acquire management control of Austal.
According to Austal on the 6th, Austal plans to establish a new subsidiary named Austal Defense Australia and has decided to grant the Australian government a call option to purchase 100% of this company's equity.
Austal Defense Australia will be responsible for the construction of 18 medium landing craft and 8 large landing craft that Austal has contracted from the Australian government. The company will be designated as a strategic shipbuilding company by the government.
The project will take place at the Austal shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia (WA), until 2032. A total of $1.3 billion (approximately 1.2 trillion won) will be invested in the construction of medium landing craft.
The call option can be exercised in the future if a third party acquires the management rights or business of the parent company, Austal. It can also be exercised if a substantial part or all of the company's assets are acquired.
If the Australian government exercises the call option to acquire Austal Defense Australia from Austal, Austal will transfer the Henderson shipyard and production personnel to this subsidiary.
The Hanwha Group has been pursuing the acquisition of Austal since last year but has currently suspended discussions. However, in March of this year, it purchased 9.91% of Austal's equity to become a major shareholder and has applied for approvals from the Australian and U.S. governments to increase its equity stake to 19.9%.
A Hanwha official noted, "The equity acquisition that Hanwha is currently pursuing is unrelated to the acquisition," adding, "The Australian government's actions also appear to be measures to protect its domestic shipbuilding industry and to ensure the smooth implementation of the landing craft construction project."