Kim Dong-sun, president of Hanwha Vision [Hanwha]
Kim Dong-sun, president of Hanwha Vision [Hanwha]

Kim Dong-sun, the third son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn and president of Hanwha Vision, is stepping out on his own. This month he took charge of a newly established holding company, Hanwha Machinery & Services Holdings — known as Hanwha M&S Holdings — setting up an independent management structure within the group's tech and lifestyle business cluster.

Hanwha M&S Holdings was created Saturday through a spin-off of Hanwha Corp. and brings together retail, leisure and food-and-beverage subsidiaries — including Hanwha Galleria, Hanwha Hotel and Aowrhome — alongside machinery, equipment and robotics units such as Hanwha Vision, Hanwha Semitech, Hanwha Momentum and Hanwha Robotics.

The new holding company is in the final stages of preparation, hiring staff to handle financing, board affairs and regulatory disclosures, and building a dedicated website. Once those foundations are in place, it is expected to review the full business portfolio and set strategic priorities through a process of selection and focus.

Kim has shown a bold dealmaking streak through a series of major acquisitions. The most prominent are his 869.5 billion won ($607 million) purchase last year of Aowrhome, a corporate catering company, and the acquisition of a five-star hotel and resort near Bukhansan — formerly known as Parasspa and now rebranded as Anto.

The Aowrhome deal vaulted Hanwha to second place in the institutional catering market, and the group extended that push late last year by acquiring the catering division of Shinsegae Food. Aowrhome captured about 30 percent of new institutional catering contracts put out to tender last year and posted an 85 percent contract-renewal rate. The company is targeting 360 billion won in institutional catering sales by 2030.

Kim has also been active in scouting food-and-beverage brands. He brought the American burger chain Five Guys to South Korea in June 2023, and the brand sparked a queuing frenzy from the day it opened. Five Guys has since grown to 10 locations, and an exit process is now underway — due diligence is expected to wrap up this month, with a share purchase agreement to follow.

The premium ice cream brand Benson is another venture Kim spearheaded. Benson opened its first location in May last year and surpassed 20 stores last month, with a 30th set to open before the end of the year. Once it reaches 100 locations next year, the brand plans to scale through a franchise model and take on Baskin-Robbins, the domestic market leader, head-on.

Hanwha M&S Holdings is drawing attention as the vehicle through which Kim — who has made his name in food and dining — will lay out his broader vision for a tech-and-lifestyle business. The holding company plans to invest a total of 4.7 trillion won through 2030, comprising 2.1 trillion won in capital expenditure, 2 trillion won in research and development, and 600 billion won in mergers and acquisitions. It aims to reach 14 trillion won in sales by 2030, with semiconductor equipment, robotics, AI and retail services as its core growth engines.

Financing that ambition is the central challenge. The combined cash and cash-equivalent assets of Hanwha M&S Holdings' subsidiaries amount to only around 600 billion won — far short of the investment targets. Key subsidiary Hanwha Galleria alone plans to spend 900 billion won reconstructing its luxury shopping complex in Apgujeong, leaving little room to maneuver. On top of that, the group recently acquired two properties — a building in Jung-gu and a site in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu — at a combined cost of around 450 billion won.

Against that backdrop, industry observers say the critical task for Kim is to stabilize the organization quickly by laying out a clear strategic direction and winning market confidence. "Putting forward a credible investment plan is the big challenge," one industry official said. "He needs to find a way to secure stable cash flow, strengthen synergies across the businesses and identify new growth opportunities."


spa@heraldcorp.com