Hanwha Aerospace Lifts KAI Stake to 11.21% With ₩313.3 Billion in Two Weeks

Hanwha Aerospace has moved swiftly to enlarge its position in Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), spending roughly 313.3 billion won (about $203 million) in just two weeks to push the Hanwha group's combined stake in the defense contractor to 11.21%. The purchases mark an accelerated rollout of a plan the company disclosed only weeks earlier.

According to regulatory filings submitted through South Korea's electronic disclosure system, Hanwha Aerospace bought 1,034,600 KAI shares, equal to a 1.06% stake, for about 150 billion won over five trading sessions late last month. That lifted its standalone holding from 7.61% to 8.67%. Adding shares held by affiliates Hanwha Systems (1.53%) and Hanwha Aerospace USA (1.01%), the group's total reaches 11.21%, or 10,930,623 shares.

The buying spree follows a mid-month announcement in which the company said it would invest up to 500 billion won by year-end to acquire more KAI stock. In the first week after that statement it purchased 1,087,080 shares for 163.3 billion won, and the latest round added another tranche, bringing the two-week total to a 2.17% stake. That leaves roughly 186.7 billion won of purchasing capacity for the remainder of the year.

The pace has outstripped market expectations. Hanwha had earlier this year completed a separate 500 billion won buying program within about a month, effectively doubling its planned KAI acquisitions for the year to around 1 trillion won.

The firepower behind the campaign is substantial. As of March, Hanwha Aerospace held about 6.89 trillion won in cash and equivalents plus 1.45 trillion won in other current financial assets, leaving immediately available funds above 8 trillion won. That war chest has been reinforced by strong earnings tied to booming global demand for South Korean weapons and a 4.22 trillion won rights offering carried out last year.

With the additional buying, Hanwha has cemented its status as KAI's second-largest shareholder, having overtaken the National Pension Service earlier and now trailing only the Export-Import Bank of Korea, which holds 26.41%. Industry analysts widely read the accumulation as a preemptive step ahead of a potential privatization of KAI, though the government has not formally launched any such process.