Woongjin Chemical Likely to Be Acquired by Toray Advanced Materials

SEOUL, KOREA- Toray Advanced Materials Korea has been selected as the preferred negotiating partner to take over Woongjin Chemical. Woongjin Holdings, the holding company under court receivership, picked the Japanese chemical company as the preferred bidder and got it approved by the Seoul Central District Court's bankruptcy court.The shares to be acquired by Toray include a 46.3-percent stake held by Woongjin Holdings and a 9.9-percent stake owned by the two sons of former Woongjin chairman Yoon Seok-keum.

Earlier in the main bidding held on September 10, four bidders including LG Chem, GS Energy, and Unid, as well as Toray participated. Toray outbid others by offering a price well over the 400 billion won level. As to the selection of Toray Advanced Materials, some raised concerns that Woongjin Chemical had in the past received government support in technology development programs and may divulge confidential technologies to overseas partners. But the bankruptcy court disregarded the concern and moved on to approve the decision.

Toray Advanced Materials is a Korean unit of Toray Group of Japan. Established in 1999 as a joint venture between Toray Group and Korea's now-defunct Saehan Group, the company went to a couple of ownership change and now is owned 100 percent by Toray Group. The company's sales revenue last year was 1.33 trillion won.

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