Despite Daewoo's Woes, Spinoffs Are Prospering

Companies spun off from the defunct Daewoo Group seem to be off to a good start, while the group and its former chairman remain entangled in legal and ethical issues.

Daewoo Corporation's trade arm is now Daewoo International, and the construction division became Daewoo Engineering & Construction in December. In October, Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering were separated from Daewoo Heavy Industries. Daewoo International had export revenue of $ 472 million in January, up 18.9 percent over January 2000. That revenue growth far outstripped the aggregate performance of the top seven trading companies in Korea, a drop of 0.9 percent.

Planning to complete its workout plan this year, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering won 6 out of 14 orders placed for liquefied natural gas tankers in the world market last year.

Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery exported more than 1,400 excavators to China last year, taking 22 percent of China's heavy machinery market.

by Sunny Yang