쌍용건설

Secured 40 projects worth over USD 5.5 billion in Singapore alone

Recognized for excellence in safety management, with Chairman & CEO S. Joon Kim assuring clients with his strong leadership and integrity

 

Reported by Injoon Lee for Newsis

 

Seoul, Korea&mdashSsangyong E&C continues to extend its winning streak in project bidding through the first half of 2018, in Korea as well as overseas.

 

It is a welcoming change for the construction company, which has struggled for many years to stay afloat, after the parent company, one of Korea’s top five conglomerates, was dismantled in the wake of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

 

Ssangyong E&C turned things around in January 2015 after securing investments from the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD). The company has since pulled itself out of court receivership and dramatically improved its performance&mdashfrom a KRW 125 billon in loss in 2015 to KRW 28.4 billion in profit the following year. Ssangyong E&C recorded another solid year in 2017, posting profits again.

 

This year, the construction company is turning up a notch, making aggressive business moves and priming itself for a successful comeback.

 

Great Success in Global Markets

Last month, the Ssangyong E&C and Daewoo E&C Consortium was ed by the Ministry of Health of Singapore to construct a state-of-the-art medical campus on a vast 76,600-square meter plot in Woodlands located on the north side of Singapore. With a total price tag of KRW 800 billion (USD 74 million), the medical campus will house a general hospital with 1,800 beds, a community hospital, a sanatorium and a hospice center, complete with cutting-edge IT support facilities. Ssangyong E&C and Daewoo E&C each has 40 percent stake in this 33-month long megaproject, with a local partner claiming the rest.

 

Including the medical campus project, Ssangyong E&C has won a total of 40 projects in Singapore alone, which translates to USD 5.5 in contract value (cumulative). With the successful bid for the project, the company also extended its great track record in the country highlighted by the Marian Sands Bay Hotel and the Thomson-East Coast Line T308, a subway construction project that presented civil engineering challenges.  

 

Ssangyong E&C is particularly proud of its incredible safety management record&mdash60 million man-hours with zero accidents in Singapore and 120 million man-hours with zero accidents worldwide. The company’s strong performance in this area also helps Ssangyong E&C promote its strengths and capabilities in global markets.

 

However, the tendering process for the Woodland project was by no means challenge-free. The client repeatedly expressed their concerns over risks associated with the group leadership structure of the consortium formed by three different companies, including confusion in the chain of command and resulting inefficiency.

 

Chairman & CEO S. Joon Kim stepped in to address such concerns. He participated in every post-tender meetings&mdashand he was the only CEO to do so&mdashto assure the client, identify expectations and devise sales strategy with his strong leadership. Chairman Kim called himself the “Commander” as the expression of his strong commitment for the project and earned the trust and confidence of the client.

 

“Repeated design changes unsettled the client as well. They even dubbed the project a ‘nightmare,’ but Chairman Kim assured them that it was possible. And that clinched the deal,” says a Ssangyong executive.

 

Avoiding Lowest Price Bidding and Presenting a Model for Successful Collaboration

 

Ssangyong E&C prides itself for making another contribution in the process&mdashpresenting a successful model for collaboration among Korean construction companies.

 

For this project, Ssangyong E&C formed a consortium with Daewoo E&C to outcompete with Japanese construction companies, which had dominated the hospital construction segment in Singapore. Industry insiders agree that fierce competition among Korean companies in overseas markets, and the resulting bidding war that drives down the price, is one of the main reasons for the eroding profitability. 
 

In this project, Ssangyong E&C took a completely different path and chose to collaborate. As the leading company in the consortium, Ssangyong E&C highlighted the excellent talent bench and track record of Daewoo E&C to win the project. Daewoo E&C has strong competitiveness in special building projects, evidenced by its track record of completing 18 different hospital projects in Korea and overseas over the past four decades. Prior to this partnership, Ssangyong E&C teamed up with Hyundai Engineering & Construction in 2016 for the technically challenging Singapore Downtown Line Section 921 project, creating a win-win situation and avoiding a meaningless price competition.  

 

The collaboration model adopted by Ssangyong E&C in this project is expected to create more opportunities for further collaboration among Korean companies in Singapore, which is rapidly emerging as one of the largest construction markets in South East Asia.

 

Growing Presence in the Domestic Market

Ssangyong E&C is also making efforts to expand its presence in the domestic market. Recently, the company has secured two Korea Expressway Corporation projects for the Hamyang-Changnyeong Expressway (No. 14), Sections 1 (KRW 152 billion) and 11 (KRW 225.2 billion), expanding its share in the civil engineering sector.

 

Ssangyong E&C is poised to make a comeback in the housing segment as well. This year, the company plans to release a total of 4,629 housing units including 1,705 units for sale, the largest volume in the past five years. In the first half, 360 units (130 units for sale) of Ssangyong Yega the Class in Gimhae will be released to the market this month, and 245 units (127 units for sale) of Myeonmok Section 6 located near the Yongmasan Station will be made available in May. In the second half, Ssangyong E&C plans to provide housing units in six different locations including Incheon, Bupyeong, Gwangsan (Gwangju), Changwon (South Gyeongsang) and Sajik (Busan).