GS Holdings to invest $16 billion over next half decade

GS Group Chairman Huh Tae-soo [YONHAP]

GS Holdings announced it will invest 21 trillion won ($16.5 billion) over the next five years to ensure future growth.

GS Holdings runs a range of businesses including the GS Caltex refining company, the GS25 convenience store franchise and the GS E&C construction firm.

The company pledged to invest the largest chunk of 14 trillion won into its clean energy business, including the development of renewable energy, its blue ammonia business and small modular reactors (SMRs).

The blue ammonia business takes a low-carbon approach to ammonia production. It is seen as a useful fuel for powering industrial heating, heavy road transport and shipping. Last year, GS Energy announced it joined a project led by Abu Dhabi National Oil to build a blue ammonia production facility to co-develop the clean energy compound in Abu Dhabi.

SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors smaller than conventional nuclear reactors. They are often said to be key power plants crucial to achieving carbon neutrality in the long term.

GS Holdings vowed to “actively roll out” renewable energy businesses, including the development of solar and wind power, to transition to green energy. The decision reflects the company’s goal to respond to climate change and to cut down on carbon emissions, it said.

Three trillion won will be used toward expanding and digitalizing retail stores, and another 4 trillion won toward the construction and infrastructure sectors.

It said the five-year investment will create 22,000 new jobs, or about 4,400 jobs a year — a more than 30 percent increase from the average of 3,000 new jobs per year over the past three years.

GS Holdings said it will invest in domestic start-ups through GS Venture, the corporate venture fund launched earlier this year. It also plans to invest in start-ups in North America through GS Futures, a California-based venture capital firm that makes early-stage investments in the retail, sustainability and energy sectors.

“The key to the future growth of GS is its consistent will and decision to use the business environment that is shifting toward digital and eco-friendly environment as a business opportunity,” said GS Group Chairman Huh Tae-soo in a statement. He further vowed to create a “healthy business ecosystem in which GS and partnering firms grow together.”

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]