Shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries partners with Korea’s sovereign wealth fund

By Michael McGrady, Maritime Direct Americas & Pacific Correspondent

SEOUL — Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund, announced a brand new memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings (HHIH) — one of the world’s largest shipbuilders.

According to the Yonhap News Agency, HHIH and KIC said that the initial deal between the two entities is to bolster mergers and acquisitions with other companies to expand their new businesses and industrial sectors.

All the while, the MOU grants KIC a portion of the return on investment. HHIH and KIC, notes Yonhap, will jointly invest 1 trillion won, or USD 900 million, to push for the mergers and acquisitions in the realms of AI, robots, remote autonomous ships, and hydrogen fuel cells for marine propulsion. HHIH has been aggressively building up its business portfolio via new mergers and joint ventures with KIC.

The Maritime Executive, via reporting from Korea’s Pulse media, said that HHIH vice president Chung Ki-sun said, “I hope the MOU would serve as the first step for HHI Holdings to realize the new businesses that it has been promoting so far.”