Hanwha Group, South Korea's 10th-largest family-controlled conglomerate, said Wednesday its latest decision to take over four Samsung affiliates will not emerge as an excessive financial burden for the group, adding that it also does not plan to sell any subsidiaries to secure cash.

"We do not have any financial problem to complete the deal with Samsung," a Hanwha official said. "We have no plan to sell other Hanwha affiliates to secure cash for the acquisition."

Last week, Samsung Group said it will sell four chemical and defense units to Hanwha Group in a deal estimated at 1.9 trillion won (US$1.7 billion). The purchase will be completed by the first half of 2015.

Under the deal, Samsung will offload its shares in defense affiliate Samsung Techwin Co. and chemical unit Samsung General Chemicals Co. to Hanwha, a conglomerate whose main businesses include defense and solar power. 

Two other affiliates, Samsung Thales Co. and Samsung Total Petrochemicals Co., were automatically included in the sale-acquisition deal because they are half-owned by the companies being sold to Hanwha.

Hanwha also said it will retain as many employees in the purchased firms as possible, in line with its corporate policy to guarantee employment.

Samsung Group, meanwhile, said Wednesday it is in talks with employees of the affiliates set to be sold, adding that it plans to either provide them compensation or give them opportunities to move to other Samsung affiliates.

"This deal is something more than just an acquisition. Hanwha's goal is to foster its defense and chemical businesses with Samsung to lock horns with global firms such as Lockheed Martin," the official added.

The acquisition was a boon for Hanwha, which has sought ways to diversify its defense business portfolio, which is mostly focused on guided missiles and ground weapons systems, to become South Korea's top defense contractor when the deal is completed. 

It also paved the way for disgraced Hanwha Chairman Kim Seung-yeon, convicted of breach of trust, to return to the business arena. The 62-year-old tycoon showed up at the Seoul headquarters for work late Wednesday, according to company officials. 

In 2012, Kim was sentenced to four years in prison and faced a fine of 5.1 billion won for illegally using company money to pay back debts of firms he has run under borrowed names. While undergoing years-long trials and medical treatment for complications related to several reported illnesses, Kim earlier this year stepped down from the executive positions at Hanwha and six other affiliates.

An appeals court in February gave him a three-year sentence that was suspended for five years and ordered him to perform 300 hours of community service, saving him from serving a jail term. 

Though Hanwha has largely kept mum about Kim's comeback to the managerial forefront, it was widely speculated that the chairman played a role behind the scenes in the acquisition deal. 

Starting as a munitions manufacturer in 1952, Hanwha Group has reached out to other businesses ranging from petrochemical and financial to leisure and solar through a series of M&As, with several clinched under the leadership of Kim. (Yonhap)