LS Cable to become No.2 shareholder in KT Submarine

South Korea’s LS Group will become the No. 2 shareholder in KT Submarine Co. after buying the undersea cable construction company’s new shares for 25.2 billion won ($17.6 million), LS Cable & System Co. said on Tuesday.

The stake purchase, due in December, is in line with LS Group’s push into the renewable energy market after Chairman Koo Ja-eun took the helm of the conglomerate in late 2021.

LS Cable said in a regulatory filing it will buy 4 million shares of Kosdaq-listed KT Submarine to boost its ownership stake in the latter to 15.6%.
At present, telecom service provider KT Corp. is the largest shareholder with a 37% stake.

KT Submarine said in a separate filing it will pour the proceeds from the rights offering into its facilities.

The investment also aims to bolster the group’s presence in the offshore wind power market, which is expected to grow as part of the global campaign for zero-carbon emissions.

KT Submarine specializes in building undersea fiber optic cables that connect countries through cables laid along the ocean floor; LS Cable manufactures undersea cables.

In 2008, LS Cable built Korea’s first submarine cable-making facility in Donghae, Gangwon Province, for 550 billion won.

In 2020, the company won large-scale undersea cable projects from the US, the Netherlands and Bahrain. The same year, it secured a long-term supply order from Denmark-based Orsted, the world’s largest offshore wind power developer.

The combination of LS Cable’s manufacturing skills and KT Submarine’s engineering and construction capabilities will boost their competitiveness enough to win global projects, an LS Group official said.

LS Group also produces electric and electronic materials, as well as materials for batteries and microchips.

Write to Jung-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.