Protestors clash with police outside Hyundai Heavy Industries shareholders' meeting on Monday. [Yonhap Photo]
Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipyard, was allowed to spin off non-shipbuilding operations controlled by a holding company Monday at a turbulent shareholders meeting disrupted by protests from workers calling for job security.
With Monday's approval, Hyundai Heavy would focus on shipbuilding, offshore drilling, and engine making in the southeastern industrial city of Ulsan with separated entities moving to other areas.
The shipbuilding group has pushed for the spin-off scheme to reduce its debt estimated at more than seven trillion won (883 million US dollars) at the end of last year and ride out a protracted business slump through a sweeping overhaul of its bloated structure.
Through the dispersion of snowballing debts, the shipyard will be reborn as a slim entity with its debt ratio being reduced from 106 percent to 95 percent. Its total personnel would be cut from 23,000 to less than 19,000.
Shipyard workers protest outside a hall where Hyundai Heavy Industries shareholders' meeting was held on Monday. [Yonhap Photo]
Shipyard workers fearing layoffs have staged a series of partial and full strikes to oppose the spin-off scheme. The shareholders meeting in an Ulsan auditorium on Monday was suspended several times due to protests by workers. Pictures showed hundreds of riot police forming human barricades to stop shipyard workers from disrupting the meeting.
Non-shipbuilding operations will be separated into shipbuilding, electric and electronics, construction tools, robotics, green energy, and facility support operations and other services.
Hyundai Heavy last year generated an operating profit of 1.2 trillion won from its non-shipbuilding sector and 700 billion won from shipbuilding. Hyundai Oilbank recorded its largest-ever operating profit of 960 billion won. Hyundai Heavy's 91 percent stake in the refinery would go to Hyundai Robotics.
The shipbuilding market is showing signs of thawing. Industry analysts predicted the bulker market would recover first, followed by tanker and container ship markets.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
