Hanwha aims higher on back of overseas success

Hanwha Engineering and Construction this year expects to secure some 4.6 trillion won ($3.9 billion) of construction orders on the back of a robust overseas presence cultivated by the firm’s steady efforts to become globally competitive. 

The firm has been showing an annual 18 percent growth in sales since 2007 on the back of its wide expertise and specialized techniques. 

By 2012, the company hopes to have achieved 5.5 trillion won worth of construction orders and also increase its proportion of overseas orders to 30 percent of its total and raise enough to eventually join the club of the world’s top 100 construction companies. 

To achieve these ambitious new management goals, Hanwha is seeking to foremostly make even bigger inroads in the overseas markets, while at the same time diversifying and sophisticating its operations. 

Hanwha currently touts a huge presence in key regions abroad. 

For instance, the firm has already nabbed a number of weighty projects in the Middle East, but it said it will continue its efforts to target the region’s oil money.

The U.S. and Southeast Asia, meanwhile, are countries where Hanwha will be seeking to gain more footage, the firm said. 

The company also hopes to diversify its operations.

Its plant-building business was expected to branch out to put more emphasis on gas and refinery-related facilities. The firm already has some experience in the area of housing development, as shown in successful projects in areas in the U.S., such as Chicago and New York. 

Further in Chicago, Hanwha has signed up with Magellan, the city’s largest real estate developer, to develop a retail center called Village Market in the area. 

The firm is currently undergoing projects in Honolulu, Hawaii as well.

Hanwha’s record in overseas markets does not stop there.

One of its most significant projects was a $75 billion contract it signed last year with a Saudi electricity firm for building a steam turbine generator. 

Construction is expected to be completed by 2012, Hanwha said. 

Another notable project was with SEPGO, a Jordan-based national electricity firm for building a gas turbine generator. Valued at nearly $2 billion, the contract was signed also last year and is facing completion next year.

Hanwha Engineering and Construction chief executive Kim Hyunchung (left) shakes hands with Marafiq CEO Thamer Al-Sharhan after signing a contract for a power plant at a hotel in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, on July 28.