The government will provide all necessary support to promote fresh corporate investment while also moving to legislate a special law aimed at enabling and stimulating mergers and acquisitions, the country's commerce minister said Wednesday.
In a Seoul meeting with top executives of 16 key companies here, Yoon Sang-jick said the government will do "anything" to help boost corporate investment.
"I ask all of you businesspeople never to hesitate in telling me anything should there ever be any difficulty in carrying out any of your investment plans," he was quoted as telling the meeting.
"I, as minister of commerce, will personally take all necessary measures to remove any such difficulty," the minister added, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The key companies, including Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co., are expected to invest at least 34.4 trillion won ($31.5 billion) this year in their facilities alone, according to the ministry.
The minister urged them to spend more.
"I ask all of you to make more active investments for the future even though you may see many difficulties now," he said at the meeting, according to the ministry.
The minister's call comes amid reports that the country's large conglomerates may be sitting on more cash than ever.
An earlier report said the combined cash reserves of the country's 10 largest business groups came to 537.8 trillion won as of end-September, up 5.7 percent from end-March.
Yoon also urged corporate restructuring through mergers and acquisitions, which, in turn, may prompt fresh investments and corporate spending.
Referring to Samsung Group's recent deal to sell its four chemical and defense units to Hanwha for 1.9 trillion won, the minister said such transactions help improve the competitiveness of each company while creating a vibrant business environment.
"I ask our companies to actively engage in improving your corporate structure by getting rid of extra weight and building more muscle through M&As with other large companies and selling their non-core business units to smaller firms," he said.
To this end, the government will work to enact a new law, tentatively named a special law on support for corporate restructuring, Yoon added.
The proposed law, according to ministry officials, partly seeks to remove regulations that currently discourage or even block M&As between firms in certain industries or business sectors.
"The government will consider all possible measures while holding back nothing to support corporate restructuring," Yoon said. (Yonhap)
