Buying his way out of a rut and into overseas markets

Samsung SDS Co., a systems integration affiliate of Samsung Group, will ramp up its efforts to expand into overseas markets by acquiring foreign companies, the company head said yesterday. “As exemplified by the global systems integration giants that have focused on growing through mergers and acquisitions over the past decade, we will also try to buy foreign firms in order to expand into overseas markets,” said Kim In, president of Samsung SDS, while speaking to Yonhap News Agency. Mr. Kim, however, did not elaborate on which companies are being considered for acquisition. Mr. Kim said Samsung would have to acquire other companies to become one of the world’s leading systems integration companies. The firm targets 8 trillion won ($8.27 billion) in sales by 2010. “The global information technology market is worth $650 billion, of which the domestic market accounts for only two to three percent,” Mr. Kim said. Samsung SDS will also resume its overseas business activities, which have been put on hold for the past three years, in order to realize the sales target, Mr. Kim added. “We will first target Asian markets such as Japan, China, Malaysia and Singapore before moving on to the United States and Europe,” he said. “We will concentrate our resources on pursuing new businesses while paving the way for overseas advances this year. Next year will be a starting point for us to make inroads into overseas markets in earnest,” he said.