Hanwha Group's third son, Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun, has resigned as head of the overseas business headquarters for the construction institutional sector at Hanwha Corp. It appears to be a move to focus capabilities on managing the new tech and life holding company to be created through a spin-off. With the business domains of Hanwha Group's three Oner brothers set, some say the overhaul of the governance structure has entered its final stage.
According to the business community on the 22nd, Kim resigned from Hanwha Corp. effective Mar. 31. Drawing on experience working on the ground in Iraq in 2014 as part of the construction overseas sales headquarters, Kim was appointed in Jan. 2024 as head of the overseas business headquarters (executive vice president) for the construction institutional sector at Hanwha Corp., but is stepping down from the post after about 2 years and 3 months. However, Kim will retain a 5.38% equity stake in Hanwha Corp.
Kim's departure from Hanwha Corp. is seen as part of reorganizing the business axis in line with the spin-off. Earlier in January, Hanwha Corp. resolved to conduct a spin-off into an existing company comprising ▲ defense ▲ shipbuilding and marine ▲ energy ▲ finance institutional sectors, and a new company comprising ▲ tech ▲ life institutional sectors. Kim will take charge of the newly spun-off "Hanwha Machinery & Service Holdings (tentative)."
In the business community, the view is that this is the result of finalizing the governance restructuring plan. Before finalizing the spin-off plan, Hanwha had considered separating only the construction institutional sector, but ultimately decided to group the tech and life business lines into the new company. With the construction institutional sector remaining in the surviving company, Kim's role within Hanwha Corp. was naturally sorted out.
With Kim's resignation from the parent company, the division of roles among the third-generation Oner heirs has become clearer. The eldest, Vice Chairman Kim Dong-Kwan, will oversee the group's core of defense, shipbuilding, and energy; the second, President Kim Dong-Won, will handle finance; and the third, Executive Vice President Kim, will take charge of the tech and life axis. Late last year, the three brothers adjusted their stakes in Hanwha Energy, the core of succession, from 50%, 25%, and 25% to 50%, 20%, and 10%, respectively, consolidating support behind Vice Chairman Kim Dong-Kwan.
Another factor behind the resignation from the executive vice president post at Hanwha Corp. is that Vice Chairman Kim, who has led distribution, leisure, and robotics businesses such as Galleria, has strengthened an independent domain and now faces greater responsibility to prove management capability. A Hanwha Group official said, "As we are currently pushing ahead with a spin-off and the establishment of a new holding company, the decision was made to focus on related tasks."
However, it appears more time will be needed to complete the procedures for the spin-off. On the 21st, Hanwha Corp. announced it would change the record date for determining shareholders from Apr. 23 to May 29. The company had initially planned to hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting on June 15, set July 1 as the spin-off date, and relist the new company on July 24, but a full rescheduling has become unavoidable.
Separately from the spin-off process, Kim is accelerating the tech and life business. In March, following the introduction of an artificial intelligence (AI) collaboration plan between Hanwha Vision and Hanwha Robotics, Kim also lent support on the 21st to the opening of Hanwha Food Tech's "The Plaza Dining" in Gwanghwamun. Shedding the Hanwha Corp. roof, Kim is moving quickly into full-fledged independent management, taking on the first high-end food and beverage platform challenge in the field Kim has focused on.