Thales to sell stake in Hanwha joint venture

[THE INVESTOR] Thales, the French defense giant, has decided to sell its 50 percent stake in Hanwha Thales, a defense electronics joint venture that Hanwha Group acquired from Samsung Group as part of a 1.9 trillion won (US$1.7 billion) deal in 2014.

Thales had long considered selling off the stake since the Samsung-Hanwha deal was announced. According to industry sources, the company saw little benefits from working with the new partner as it had already enjoyed hefty dividends from the venture firm that was established in 2001.

 

Hanwha Techwin, an aircraft engine producer, is expected to acquire the stake for 288 billion won in the coming weeks. A year ago, Thales decided to maintain the stake in a put option deal that allows it the right to sell the stake later.

The nation’s largest defense group acquired four chemical and defense units of Samsung Group in November 2014, including Samsung Techwin, Samsung General Chemicals, Samsung Thales and Samsung Total Petrochemicals.

Samsung Total, now Hanwha Total, is also a 50:50 JV set up with France’s chemical firm Total.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)