Six coexistence measures under discussion including employee succession and local hiring priority
Attention is focused on what level of coexistence measures D'Ocean Asset Management, the private equity firm acquiring SK Ocean Plant despite opposition from Gyeongsangnam-do residents and Goseong County residents, will present to the local community.
According to Gyeongsangnam-do on October 11, the province and Goseong County are treating the sale of SK Ocean Plant as a fait accompli and are in discussions with D'Ocean Asset Management on coexistence measures across six areas.
The province and Goseong County emphasized that even if D'Ocean Asset Management acquires SK Ocean Plant, the developer of the Yangchon and Yongjung Opportunity Development Special Zone in Donghae-myeon, it must fulfill the investment agreement from April 2024 that commits to investing 950 billion won in the Yangchon and Yongjung district and employing 3,600 people.
Goseong County began discussions on coexistence measures in early September, shortly after the sale announcement of SK Ocean Plant, while urging D'Ocean Asset Management to honor the existing investment agreement.
Both sides agreed that D'Ocean Asset Management would succeed to SK Ocean Plant employees, prioritize transactions with local Goseong County businesses, and give priority to hiring local residents with bonus points during recruitment.
D'Ocean Asset Management also proposed developing Donghae Elementary School in Donghae-myeon, where SK Ocean Plant is located, into a globally specialized maritime school by providing native English teachers and supporting overseas study trips for students, as well as making scholarship donations to the local community. Goseong County accepted these proposals.
However, disagreement exists over how to settle SK Ocean Plant employees who commute from Changwon and Tongyeong in Goseong County, and the parties have not yet reached full agreement on all coexistence measures.
Separately from the coexistence measures, D'Ocean Asset Management will submit an investment and employment implementation plan to the province by October 16.
D'Ocean Asset Management will include in the implementation plan its investment and employment plans following the acquisition of SK Ocean Plant, as well as future business and contract acquisition plans.
The province and Goseong County are sensitive to the sale of SK Ocean Plant because of the company's weight and symbolic importance in the regional economy.
SK Ocean Plant, a subsidiary of the SK Group specializing in offshore wind, shipbuilding and plant engineering, had sales approaching 1 trillion won (965.4 billion won) as of last year and directly employs over 700 people.
It is the largest company in Goseong County, which has a population of fewer than 50,000.
The number of employees at cooperating companies also reaches approximately 2,000 across some 30 firms.
Additionally, SK Ocean Plant is the developer of the Yangchon and Yongjung Opportunity Development Special Zone in Donghae-myeon, Goseong County, which the government designated in June 2024 as Gyeongsangnam-do's first Opportunity Development Special Zone with the goal of becoming the world's largest production base for offshore wind substructures.
The province and Goseong County pursued support projects worth 167.2 billion won, including improvements to National Route 77 leading to the special zone, construction of access roads, and development of job-linked housing. They also provided full backing for transmission line installation and public water surface reclamation licences.
In this context, when SK ecoplant, the largest shareholder of SK Ocean Plant, announced on September 1 last year that it had selected the D'Ocean Asset Management consortium as the preferred bidder for SK Ocean Plant, both the province and Goseong County strongly opposed the move.
The province and Goseong County expressed concern that if the sale of SK Ocean Plant materializes, it could cause serious adverse effects on the regional economy overall, including delays in the Opportunity Development Special Zone project, which was 60 percent complete as of September, uncertainty in employee succession and maintenance of cooperating company contracts, and the possibility of special zone designation being revoked.
SK Ocean Plant ultimately announced on August 31 that its largest shareholder, SK ecoplant, would dispose of its entire stake of 35.62 percent to D'Ocean Asset Management for 410 billion won.
With this stake sale, D'Ocean Asset Management will become the largest shareholder of SK Ocean Plant.
SK Ocean Plant announced that the stake transfer will be completed by the end of December.
Original Korean article: Yonhap News
English brief by Korea Wind Intelligence, koreawindintel.com
