Asiana Airlines forms task force to complete merger with Korean Air

Industry

Published: 27 Mar. 2023, 19:00

Asiana Airlines forms task force to complete merger with Korean Air

Asiana Airlines' Vice President and Interim CEO Won Yoo-seok [ASIANA AIRLINES]

Asiana Airlines has formed a task force team led by its interim CEO for its merger with Korean Air, in a move to devote all its resources to obtain approval from foreign antitrust authorities.

Asiana said Monday that it launched a Corporate Merger Task Force led by its Vice President and Interim CEO Won Yoo-seok to focus on the challenges related to the merger of the two Korean flag carriers.

Korean Air has reported business combinations to a total of 14 competition authorities since January 2021. Eleven countries, including Britain, have either approved the combination or have concluded the review — leaving only the European Union, Japan, and the United States to reach decisions.

The EU is in the second stage of review for the proposed merger with its decision to be made by Aug. 3. The U.S. Department of Justice has requested more time to approve the merger, while the preliminary consultation stage is only just underway by Japan.

In November 2020, Korean Air Lines signed a deal valued at 1.8 trillion won ($1.2 billion) to become Asiana's biggest shareholder with a 63.9 percent stake.

Asiana’s new task force comprises a total of 42 members, including seven executives. The team was previously headed by the strategic planning department leader, but has now been restructured and expanded with the CEO assuming the role of team leader.

The task force consists of two primary groups: the "General Group," which is primarily composed of the Legal and Strategic Planning departments, and the "Support Group," comprising the Passenger, Cargo, Finance, and External Cooperation departments.

The General Group is responsible for aggregating, scrutinizing and harmonizing legal opinions with advisors on the documents submitted to the competition authorities. The Support Group is accountable for managing the information requested by the competition authorities.

“With the extension of review by foreign competition authorities, the amount of requested materials is becoming massive,” Asiana said in a press release. “To enhance our capacity to respond to these reviews, we have implemented a task force operating system centered on the acting duties of the CEO, and also bolstered our practical workforce.”

The gathered data from Asiana's task force will either be directly submitted to a foreign regulator or transferred to Korean Air, whose own task force will compile and submit it to the foreign regulator, an official told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Korean Air will become Asiana's biggest shareholder with a 63.9 percent stake if the acquisition is completed. But the merger could be scrapped if it fails to win approval from any one of the three jurisdictions.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]