Hanwha Group said Friday that Chairman Kim Seung-youn will come back to management as an unregistered representative of three Hanwha units, ending his seven-year absence.

According to Hanwha Group, the chairman will take the post in the holdings firm Hanwha Corp., energy and chemical company Hanwha Solutions and Hanwha Engineering & Construction, starting next month.

In 2014, Kim was sentenced to an imprisonment of three years, suspended for five years, for a breach of trust and had to resign from the representative director’s position at seven affiliates including Hanwha Corp. He was also barred from seeking the same work for five years after the completion of the sentence. That ban ended on Feb. 18.

“Hanwha Group affiliates are managed independently by their respective boards of directors. To continue developing the autonomous and responsible management system, Kim decided not to return as a registered representative,” a Hanwha Group official said.

Rather than engaging in the daily management activities of affiliates, Kim will be tasked with searching for the group‘s future growth engines and provide support to businesses through his network overseas.“

In his New Year address, Kim mentioned space industry as the group’s next growth engine. At his approval, the group‘s defense and aerospace unit Hanwha Aerospace acquired a South Korean satellite company Satrec Initiative in January.

In a regulatory filing filed on Friday, Hanwha Corp. said its operating profit and net profit in 2020 jumped 40.5 percent and 220.4 percent on-year to 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion) and 740.5 billion won, respectively. Its revenue saw 1 percent growth to 50.9 trillion won.

“Hanwha Corp. saw its operating profit and net profit spike based on the steady sales of its petrochemical products and the growth of renewable energy sectors including solar power. Hanwha Corp. will ramp up its investments into Green New Deal projects and put affiliates‘ aerospace businesses on track, including satellite and urban air mobility businesses,” a Hanwha Corp. official said.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)