쌍용건설

Ssangyong E&C is redefining itself as a premium international contractor, as demonstrated by its outstanding ranking among global contractors. Since the management rehabilitation in 2015, the company has been striving to return to its heyday through overseas construction projects.

Ssangyong E&C announced on September 1 that it expects to be ranked highly in the Engineering News-Record (ENR)’s upcoming announcement of the 2020 Top 250 International Contractors. Since its acquisition by the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) in 2015, Ssangyong E&C has been an active bidder in Dubai, Thailand, the Philippines and other regions as well as in Singapore, the company’s main market. This track record makes a jump in the ENR ranking a strong possibility. The ENR ranking is based on each contractor’s international revenues and serves as a major index indicating a contractor’s status in the global construction market.

Ssangyong E&C’s was ranked 141^st in 2019, up 46 places from its 2018 ranking. The company was also ranked 11th among domestic contractors in the ENR ranking, even though it is among the top 30 in a construction capability evaluation conducted domestically. The fact that most Korean contractors ed among ENR’s Top 250 International Contractors are ranked among the top ten in the domestic rankings suggests Ssangyong E&C’s sharp competitive edge in the global construction market. In 2018, the company secured international orders with a combined worth of USD 1.435 billion, the sixth largest among Korean contractors. In particular, Ssangyong E&C was ranked second in the construction and civil engineering category (excluding overseas plant contracts) among Korean contractors.

Founded in 1977, Ssangyong E&C has traditionally been a prime leader in overseas construction. The company has been highly recognized for its mastery in high-altitude, high-risk construction, well demonstrated by the completion of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore and other engineering marvels. In 1998, Ssangyong E&C was ranked second in the ENR’s list of top hotel contractors and has maintained high rankings ever since.

Over the years, the company has experienced as many crises as it has accumulated an ever more impressive reputation as an international contractor. The SsangYong Group, former parent company of Ssangyong E&C, was the sixth largest conglomerate in Korea before its dismantling in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Ssangyong E&C entered a workout in 1998 and completed the program in six years. However, a series of failed attempts to find a new owner, coupled with a recession in the domestic property market, put the company into a second workout in 2013. It was also removed from the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) market in the same year. In the end, the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), one of the two major sovereign wealth funds in the UAE, became the largest shareholder of Ssangyong E&C. Since then, the company has re-entered the Dubai construction market and established a strong presence while continuing to strengthen its capabilities.

During the first half of 2019, the company won contracts to build the Dubai 1 Residence (worth USD 167 million) in Dubai and the BATA International Airport in Equatorial Guinea (worth USD 198 million). “Ssangyong E&C is the only Korean company that has entered the Dubai construction market - the world’s largest,” one company official said. “Based on exclusive technology and other competitive strengths, we will reemerge as a prime international contractor.”