**HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Merge to Form New Entity**
**HD Hyundai Faces China-Japan Shipbuilding Giants’ Aggression**
– **Creates Synergy in Large and Specialized Vessels**
– **Targets 37 Trillion Won in Revenue by 2035**
– **Sets 10 Trillion Won Goal in Defense Sector**
On December 1st, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard officially merged to form “Integrated HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.” Amid market restructuring with competitors in China and Japan expanding, HD Hyundai aims to leverage merger synergies to cover both commercial and defense sectors. With new business ventures like the “MASGA” project with the U.S., they aspire to boost defense sector sales by tenfold to 10 trillion won by 2035.
HD Hyundai announced that all merger procedures between HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard were completed, raising the sails for the newly integrated company. After announcing the merger plans in August, they received approval from the Fair Trade Commission in September and shareholder endorsement in October.
The global shipbuilding market is experiencing a wave of consolidation. In September, China’s merger of CSSC and CSIC created the world’s largest shipbuilding conglomerate. Japan followed suit by combining its top two companies, Imabari Shipbuilding and Japan Marine United, signaling a renaissance in their shipbuilding sector.
By merging HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, focused on large vessels, with HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, which specializes in medium-sized and specialized vessels, HD Hyundai is positioned to maximize synergies through quantitative and qualitative expansion. This merger aligns with global shipbuilding market trends, enabling timely responses to market shifts.
Industry experts view the merger positively. Recently, Korea’s top three credit rating agencies (Korea Ratings, Korea Investors Service, NICE Investors Service) raised their outlook for HD Hyundai Heavy Industries from A+ (stable) to A+ (positive). Korea Investors Service noted that the merger would enhance HD Hyundai’s business capabilities and improve production efficiency through flexible infrastructure and personnel management.
The defense sector is expected to see the most significant growth following the merger. HD Hyundai plans to enhance defense production capabilities by combining HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ shipbuilding expertise with HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard’s docks, facilities, and workforce suitable for ship construction.
HD Hyundai anticipates that the combined company’s revenue, which was 19 trillion won last year, will grow to 37 trillion won by 2035, with defense sector sales increasing from 1 trillion won to 10 trillion won.
In his first message after taking office in October, HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Gi-sun emphasized, “We are exploring and acquiring overseas yards with manufacturing cost competitiveness and actively pioneering new markets through the MASGA project, utilizing geopolitical considerations.”