Samsung Electronics has created a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team within the Business Support Office, which recently launched as a formal organization. The team is composed of key personnel, including President Ahn Jung-hyun, who previously sealed major M&As in the existing business support task force (TF).
According to the business community on the 13th, the Business Support Office at Samsung Electronics has newly established an M&A team in addition to the strategy team, management diagnosis team, and people team. This is the first time an M&A-dedicated organization has been created within Samsung. In the era of the Future Strategy Office, the strategy team was in charge of M&A.
The head of the M&As team is Samsung Electronics President Ahn Jung-hyun. President Ahn joined the company in 1986 and, starting in 2015, worked at the Future Strategy Office and the business support TF, where Ahn handled large M&A projects such as the acquisition of Harman, a U.S. automotive electronics and electrical equipment company.
In 2014, at the Samsung Group level, under the rationale of exiting noncore businesses and focusing on core competencies (electronics, finance, and bio), Ahn is also said to have played a key role when promoting the "big deal" involving Samsung Techwin, a defense and aircraft engine specialist. Samsung Techwin was acquired by Hanwha Group in June 2015.
In addition, Executive Vice President Lim Byung-il, Executive Vice President Choi Kwon-young, and Managing Director Koo Ja-cheon joined the M&A team. In 2022, Lim, an M&A expert, served as head of Samsung Electronics' business support TF and overall M&A. Choi, formerly of Samsung Display's planning team, moved to the business support TF this year and joined the Business Support Office's M&A team.
With the launch of the M&A team, Samsung is expected to more actively seek future growth engines. The company is said to be pursuing an M&A strategy for rapid market entry across various areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and bio. Earlier, during its second-quarter earnings conference call, Samsung Electronics said it is "reviewing candidate companies for M&A to secure technological leadership in various new growth areas such as AI, robots, HVAC, and medtech."