Dongbu Daewoo Electronics is expected to start anew this week as it relocates its headquarters to southern Seoul.
The company, which was acquired by Dongbu Group a year ago, will move from Myeong-dong into the group’s headquarters this Friday in Gangnam, where other domestic tech heavyweights such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are located.
A Dongbu Daewoo Electronics official said, however, that it would be the “same business” as usual for the company, despite media reports that the relocation was in line with the group’s efforts to reinforce its business-to-consumer units.
Dongbu Daewoo Electronics’ planned relocation has more to do with the country’s third-largest electronics company seeking to integrate Dongbu’s corporate culture with its own, another official said.
The company will move into the building shared by other affiliates such as Dongbu Steel and Dongbu Insurance.
The group’s key IT subsidiaries such as Dongbu Lightec, Dongbu Robot and Dongbu CNI remain scattered nationwide. Dongbu Hitek, the group’s semiconductor foundry located in the headquarters building, is on the market for sale as the group faces a liquidity crunch.
Dongbu Daewoo has been gaining ground since last year, strengthening its key consumer electronics such as refrigerators, washing machines and microwave ovens.
It is now seeking to reintroduce new household appliances such as televisions this year, in addition to air conditioners last year.
The company, which once had an edge over Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics before the Asian financial crisis, had an air conditioning business with the U.S.-based Carrier.
Its TV unit was acquired by former employees of Daewoo Electronics, and Daewoo Carrier was purchased by Autech, a listed Korean special vehicle maker, after Daewoo Group subsidiaries were broken up during the nation’s financial crisis in the late 1990s.
