Samsung E&A (028050) and Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) have joined hands to tap the global water market.
Samsung E&A announced Wednesday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with K-water on Tuesday to expand its water business. The signing ceremony was attended by top executives from both companies, including Samsung E&A President Nam Goong-hong and K-water President Yoon Seok-dae.
The agreement was reached with the goal of combining the core competencies of the two companies to secure tangible business opportunities in domestic and overseas water markets.
The two companies plan to develop water-related businesses leveraging their respective technologies and networks while sharing information. They also agreed to pursue domestic water treatment and reuse business development and joint operation and maintenance (O&M), as well as identifying opportunities, commercialization, and joint O&M for overseas water business development. Through a regular consultative body, they will coordinate the direction of domestic and overseas water business agendas currently being pursued. They also plan to establish a one-team response system to identify new global projects.
Meanwhile, Samsung E&A reorganized its business portfolio earlier this year, shifting from the previous chemical and non-chemical divisions to chemical, advanced industry, and new energy, in a bid to expand future businesses. As part of this, the company designated the water business as a key growth pillar of new energy, alongside liquefied natural gas (LNG) and clean energy.
The company is simultaneously strengthening its value chain to cover the entire water business spectrum, including water and sewage treatment, reuse, and desalination. Samsung E&A has proven its water business capabilities by successfully carrying out numerous water treatment projects at home and abroad, including in Yongin and Bahrain, and possesses technologies in the highly challenging fields of wastewater, reuse, and ultrapure water.
In 2022, the company began full-scale efforts to tap the Southeast Asian water treatment market by acquiring a stake in Vietnamese water treatment company DNP Water, and is also accelerating its expansion in the Middle East water market.
"Cooperation with K-water, which has world-class O&M know-how, will be the most ideal model for entering the water-related business," President Nam said. "We will successfully complete joint projects to be carried out in the future and begin our full-scale push into the global water market."
