Hanwha Aerospace to acquire stake in satellite firm

South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace announced on 13 January that it will acquire a 30% stake in local firm Satrec Initiative (SI), a specialist in satellite systems for commercial and military applications.

Hanwha Aerospace said it will first acquire a 20% stake in SI featuring 1.81 million shares for KRW58.92 billion (USD54 million) in cash. It then plans to acquire an additional 10% stake by buying convertible bonds in the company worth KRW50 billion. Hanwha Aerospace expects to finalise the transaction by the end of April.

Hanwha Aerospace said the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is intended to support its expansion into the satellite business. It also aims to explore and exploit related technology synergies across the Hanwha group, it said.

SI, based in the central Daejeon region, is focused on developing and building small- to medium-sized satellite systems and related technologies including electro-optical payloads and ground systems. The company was established in 1999 by engineers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) who developed the country’s first satellite.

In the military domain, SI’s products include ground-based receiving and processing systems, ground control systems for unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellite-imaging technologies and platforms.