Power and construction equipment conglomerate Doosan Group raised a total of 3.3 trillion won by selling affiliates, business units and assets over the past two years to shore up its shaky balance sheet, industry sources said Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Doosan sold off its defense unit, Doosan DST, to Hanwha Techwin Corp., a defense unit of major South Korean business group Hanwha, for 354 billion won, according to the sources.

In March, Hanwha Techwin was picked as the preferred bidder for Doosan DST, beating out another defense company LIG Nex 1.

Doosan Group has been seeking to speed up the sale of core assets in a bid to improve its financial footing.

In January, the group sold off its stake in Korea Aerospace Industries for 305 billion won, and in April, its construction equipment maker Doosan Infracore sold its machine tool business unit to local private equity fund MBK Partners for 1.13 trillion won.

Last month, its construction unit, Doosan Engineering & Construction Co., also sold one of its key business units to General Electric for 300 billion won.

The company also plans to list its unit Doosan Bobcat Co. on the local bourse in a bid to improve its financial health. Doosan Infracore took over Doosan Bobcat in 2007 from Caterpillar for $4.9 billion won.

Doosan said its debts are expected to drop to 8 trillion won at the end of the year from 11 trillion won at the end of last year on the back of strong restructuring moves. (Yonhap)