Doosan Heavy Industries Stock Price Rising Consecutively... Employee Stock Ownership Plan Participants Regain Smiles

Tamna Offshore Wind Power Plant, for which Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction is responsible for design, procurement, construction, and maintenance

"I sold it at around 8,000 won, but I guess I should have held on to it longer. I have some regrets, but the sense of relief is greater. It means the company is stabilizing," said an employee of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction who recently sold shares held through the employee stock ownership plan.

As Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction accelerates the implementation of self-help measures for business normalization and overcomes a difficult period, its stock price continues to rise daily. Employees holding shares through the employee stock ownership plan are regaining smiles as the stock price recovers.

According to Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s semi-annual report on the 4th, as of the end of June, the employee stock ownership association holds 5.04% of the company’s shares. Previously, in May last year, when the company conducted a paid-in capital increase worth 528.4 billion won, employees purchased shares at 5,550 won per share through the employee stock ownership association. At that time, as the company faced difficulties due to the nuclear phase-out and coal phase-out policies, employees launched a campaign to overcome the crisis together and fully subscribed to the 17 million shares (worth 94.4 billion won) allocated to the employee stock ownership association. Some employees bought more than 10,000 shares to support the revival of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. Existing shareholders also joined this momentum, resulting in a subscription rate of 101%. Expectations that the stock price would not fall below the subscription price of 5,550 won also contributed.

However, in March this year, the spread of COVID-19 combined with a liquidity crisis worsened Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s business situation. On March 27, when the company was considering voluntary retirement and temporary layoffs of some idle workers, the stock price fell to a record low of 2,395 won since listing and closed at 2,470 won. Employees participating in the employee stock ownership plan felt frustrated and helpless, as it was difficult to hold or sell shares while the company was struggling.

Since then, creditors urgently injected 3.6 trillion won into Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, and the company has actively proceeded with asset and affiliate sales, significantly reducing its burden. Moreover, with the government’s announcement of the Green New Deal, including offshore wind power generation, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s stock has attracted attention. The stock price recovered to around 5,550 won as of the closing on July 20, then surged from July 21, closing at 16,300 won the day before, tripling the subscription price.

As Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s stock price continues to rise, employee welfare support such as children’s tuition, which had been postponed since April, has recently resumed. Some employees reportedly responded, "I had a large expense coming up, but now I can breathe easier." An industry insider said, "At the beginning of this year, employee morale at Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction was low and the atmosphere was quite gloomy, but recently it has shifted to a mood of enduring this crisis."

Meanwhile, efforts to improve Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction’s financial structure have recently gained momentum. Doosan Group announced yesterday that it decided on a paid-in capital increase worth 1.3 trillion won for Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. The group also sold Doosan Solus and Doosan Corporation’s Motrol business division for 698.9 billion won and 453 billion won, respectively, and decided to donate 23% of Doosan Fuel Cell shares (worth 574 billion won) owned by Doosan Corporation’s major shareholder to Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction free of charge.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.