KT Submarine resurfaces as LS Marine Solution after LS C&S acquisition

LS Cable & System became the largest shareholder of Kosdaq-listed KT Submarine after it acquired an additional 24.3 percent of the submarine cable supplier.

KT Submarine has changed its company name to LS Marine Solution, according to an announcement at the shareholder meeting on Thursday. [LS MARINE SOLUTION]

LS Cable & System (LS C&S) became the largest shareholder of Kosdaq-listed KT Submarine after it acquired an additional 24.3 percent of the submarine cable supplier.

The deal was passed during a shareholder meeting on Thursday, according to an electronic disclosure, which also approved the change of corporate name to LS Marine Solution.

LS Cable & System already held 21.39 percent of KT Submarine and acquired the additional 24.3 percent stake, or 6.29 million shares, of the submarine cable supplier for 44.9 billion won ($33.5 million) from the former largest shareholder, KT. The completion of the acquisition comes five months after LS Cable executed its call option in April to buy the shares at the predetermined strike price of 7,134 won.

LS Marine Solution’s operating profit for the first half of this year was a record-high figure of 7 billion won. Revenue during the same period was up 18.9 percent on year to 26.5 billion won.

With LS Marine Solution under its wing, LS Cable & System is able to execute turnkey projects in the submarine cable business from production to construction.

Demand for submarine cables is anticipated to grow due to an increase in government-led projects to build transmission networks linking regional areas to Seoul with high-voltage direct current cables.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]