One of the most famous names in global shipbuilding is set to be rebranded.
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), whose brass plaques (pictured) adorn thousands of the largest, priciest, most high tech vessels trading today, will become Hanwha Ocean on May 23.
DSME, acquired by Daewoo Group in 1978, had to be rescued by state creditors around a decade ago, and after many sell-off attempts has finally been taken over by Hanwha Group, a diversified Korean conglomerate best known for its defence business.
DSME will be re-launched with a new management team and name after all remaining procedures are completed at a shareholder meeting on May 23.
The new owners of the famous Korean yard have also signalled new business strands, emulating something their Chinese counterparts have done successfully over the past decade. The shipbuilder will become a shipowner and will also lease ships under the new business strategy unveiled yesterday.
Hanwha vice chairman Kwon Hyek-woong will become the new head of the yard. Among other appointees to the board, George P Bush, nephew of former US president George W Bush, has been nominated as an outside director.
Many other Asian shipbuilders have rebranded over the last few years, the most recent being the creation of Seatrium in Singapore following the combination of Keppel and Sembcorp’s yard businesses.
