Hanwha Group, which is focusing on defense and space businesses, has been found to have repurchased shares of competitor Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) for the first time in about seven years.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure on the 15th, Hanwha Systems, Hanwha Group's defense affiliate, said in a business report filed on the 13th that it purchased 566,635 common shares of KAI for 59.9 billion won in Nov. last year.
This amounts to 0.58% of all KAI shares, and because it is below the 5% threshold that triggers a large shareholding disclosure, it was not made public at the time of purchase.
It has been about seven years since Hanwha Group bought KAI equity, after Hanwha Aerospace sold its entire 5.99% KAI equity in 2018. At the time, KAI's share price also fell sharply.
Hanwha and KAI are partners on projects such as the Korean fighter (KF-21), but they are competing in bidding over a space business, the microsatellite system.
Hanwha Systems said the purpose of the equity acquisition was to strengthen cooperation in the aerospace and defense sectors. However, it said there are no set plans for additional acquisitions.
The defense industry said that regarding this equity acquisition, if cooperation between Hanwha Group and KAI, which are competitors, is solidified, Korea's defense and aerospace competitiveness will be greatly enhanced.