South Korean construction conglomerate DL Group plans to raise 200 billion won ($143 million) to support Yeocheon NCC Co., a petrochemical venture it owns with Hanwha Solutions Corp.

DL Chemical Co., a 50 percent shareholder in Yeocheon NCC, approved the 200 billion won rights issue at a board meeting on Monday. Parent company DL Holdings Co. also cleared the purchase of 823,086 additional DL Chemical shares for 177.8 billion won.

“As a major shareholder, we will take responsibility and work to restore Yeocheon NCC’s competitiveness,” a DL Group official said.

Hanwha Solutions, another major shareholder of Yeocheon NCC, has separately approved raising 150 billion won. This means that Yeocheon NCC could receive about 300 billion won in fresh capital if DL’s funds are fully directed to the company.

Founded in 1999 by merging the naphtha cracking facilities of Hanwha Solutions and DL Group, Yeocheon NCC posted annual operating profits of about 1 trillion won until 2021.

It has been in the red since 2022 amid global overproduction and weak demand.

Despite the new capital, shareholder frictions persist.

DL Group and Hanwha have been at odds over whether and how much to contribute to a rescue plan for the petrochemical joint venture and whether to consider a workout program.

“Through the task force jointly operated with Hanwha, DL Chemical plans to closely analyze Yeocheon NCC’s management situation, then devise and implement practical measures to strengthen competitiveness and secure genuine self-sufficiency,” DL Group said. “Simply resorting to repeated capital increases without any explanation or analysis of the causes will in no way help normalize Yeocheon NCC.”

Industry analysts worry that the dispute could further unsettle Korea’s petrochemical sector, already struggling with structural oversupply, and call for government-led restructuring may intensify.

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