South Korea’s biggest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. that has been streamlining its business to fight back dwindling ship orders amid a slowdown in the global economy has decided to spin off its non-shipbuilding businesses.

The company said on Tuesday that its plan to split Hyundai Heavy Industries into six separate entities was approved at a board of directors meeting held on the same day. According to the plan, shipbuilding and marine plant divisions accounting for more than 50 percent of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group’s total sales will remain in Hyundai Heavy Industries, while the other five divisions - electro electric systems, construction equipment, robotics, green energy and facility support operations - will be spun off into separate companies.

The spin-off plan comes after the company has been taking bold self-rehabilitation steps to restructure its business, including sell-offs of non-core assets and massive layoffs, to stay afloat amid a drop in new orders. Through the spin-off, the company hopes to grow each company as a stand-alone competitive entity in different sectors.

An unnamed official at Hyundai Heavy Industries said the world’s largest shipbuilder will shift its focus to foster its core businesses after nearly completing the disposal of non-core businesses.

The electro and electric system business is the largest unit among those to be spun off, with sales of 2.5 billion won ($2.1 billion) last year and 2,677 employees as of September. The division mainly manufactures transformers, voltage circuit breaker, switchboards, rotating machine and others.

The second largest business is the construction equipment division that produces excavators, wheel loaders, forklifts and others, with sales of 2.2 billion won and 1,251 employees.

Shares of Hyundai Heavy Industries Tuesday closed at 146,500 won, down 0.7 percent, or 1,000 won, from the previous session.

By Moon Ji-woong

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