As LS Group marks its 23rd anniversary on November 11, Chairman Ku Ja-eun, having reached the midpoint of his nine-year term, is preparing for the second half of his leadership. The company plans to reallocate resources from non-core businesses to enhance its power infrastructure while also focusing on new ventures such as battery materials, aiming to transform the group's growth trajectory.
According to industry sources on November 10, LS Group will officially launch 'LS Metal Plus,' an integrated company for metal procurement and processing, on January 1. This will involve LS Global, a metal raw material trading subsidiary, acquiring the copper and stainless steel pipe business from LS Electric for 150.4 billion won. The integrated company is expected to have approximately 1.3 trillion won in sales and about 1 trillion won in assets.
LS Corp. will participate in a 150.1 billion won capital increase for LS Global to support the acquisition. The metal business will be streamlined from procurement to processing and sales to enhance efficiency, while investment resources will be concentrated on power equipment. LS Electric, which is transferring the business, plans to use the proceeds from the sale to expand production capacity and invest in power infrastructure, thereby reducing reliance on external borrowing.
This restructuring is seen as a move to enhance management efficiency in line with Chairman Ku's commitment to significant investments announced earlier this year. In his New Year’s address in January, Ku stated that over the next five years, the company would invest a total of 12 trillion won—7 trillion won domestically and 5 trillion won internationally—in undersea cables, power equipment, and materials. This proactive investment strategy aims to secure future business competitiveness.
Investment execution appears to be on track. According to LS Corp.'s semi-annual report, of the projected 25.029 trillion won investment across five business sectors, 10.154 trillion won (40.6%) was spent in the first half of the year. Notably, LS Cable (12.881 trillion won) and LS MnM (8.395 trillion won) accounted for 85% of the total planned investment, focusing on core businesses.
Efforts to expand overseas production bases are also accelerating. LS Cable is constructing an undersea cable factory in Chesapeake, Virginia, with an investment of about 1 trillion won, aiming for mass production in the first quarter of 2028, with completion expected in the third quarter of next year. The facility will have the capacity to produce 500 kilometers of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) undersea cables annually. Additionally, LS is investing approximately 230 billion won to enhance bus duct facilities at its manufacturing plant in Mexico. LS Electric is also expanding its production facility in Utah, USA, to nearly six times its current size, with plans to begin operations early next year.
The battery materials sector, a key focus for new business, has entered full-scale production. On the same day, LS MnM held a ceremony to celebrate its 90th anniversary and the completion of its battery materials plant in Onsan, Ulsan, where it unveiled its new vision, 'RISE beyond 100.' The new facility, covering an area equivalent to 13 soccer fields (approximately 95,007 square meters), will process raw materials extracted from ores and black mass from used batteries simultaneously. The annual production capacity for nickel sulfate is expected to be around 24,000 tons, sufficient for approximately 500,000 electric vehicles.
Chairman Ku Ja-eun emphasized at the ceremony, "LS MnM is the starting point of the group's energy infrastructure value chain and a core component of Vision 2030. We will pave the way for a bright future through our new vision and ventures in battery materials and other new businesses."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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