Japan’s largest shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding acquires JMU as subsidiary to compete with Chinese and South Korean rivals
On June 26, Japan’s largest shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding announced that it will increase its investment ratio in Japan Marine United (JMU), the nation’s second-largest shipbuilding company, from the current 30% to 60%, making it a subsidiary.
JMU itself was formed by a 2013 merger of JFE Holdings’ and IHI’s shipbuilding operations.
With this subsidiary acquisition, while Imabari’s shareholding in JMU will increase from 30% to 60%, IHI and JFE’s respective shares will decrease from 35% to 20%.
“Imabari Shipbuilding and JMU will leverage each other’s strengths to compete with China and Korea, and will also make efforts to develop the Japanese shipbuilding industry by making quicker and more comprehensive judgments in terms of management,” Imabari Shipbuilding, JFE Holdings, and IHI said in a press release published in their joint names on June 26.
The Japanese shipbuilding industry has been forming an alliance to improve its international technological and price competitiveness amid blockbuster mergers in South Korea and China.
As for the world ranking of shipbuilding in terms of volume of completed ships as of 2022, South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries ranked first, followed by China State Shipbuilding Corporation in second place and Imabari Shipbuilding in third place. JMU ranked 11th, according to a document made by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry based on IHS Markit data.
In November 2019, the top two Japanese shipbuilders, Imabari Shipbuilding located in Imabari City of Ehime Prefecture, and JMU located in Yokohama City of Kanagawa Prefecture, made a surprise announcement of a capital and business alliance with each other, adopting a survival strategy based on scale.
