“Entering into Indonesia will be important point of inflection to revive Pantech. There will be great synergy as we made lots of contributions into entering Indonesian market.”
Chairman Byun Yang Kyoon of Optis emphasized the importance of Indonesian market. Indonesia and India are being labeled as potential markets that will replace Chinese Smartphone market which is currently stagnant. There will be an increase of important of middle-class, and their purchasing powers of Smartphone are also excellent. It is also advantageous in targeting those markets if Optis is able to establish production bases in Indonesia and India.
Chairman Byun is who was assigned to many important government positions such as the Secretary of Ministry of Planning and Budget and Policy Chief for The Blue House. After leaving the public office in 2007, he pushed for IPTV business centered on Indonesia and IPTV business is recently showing success.
He was appointed as the Chairman of Optis that is trying to buy Pantech, and he spoke little during a phone interview.
President Lee Joo Hyung of Optis played an important role in recruiting Chairman Byun. They became close at alumni association in Seoul for Pusan graduates and they often met as they shared a common denominator of their desires to enter into Indonesian market. The reason why President Lee Joo Hyung planned to establish Smartphone cluster in Indonesia after buying out Pantech is due to Chairman Byun’s advice.
“I’ve decided to take the Chairman position after lots of thinking because President Lee suggested if I wanted to partake in reviving Pantech together. Pantech has plenty of ability to become the best in the world if it goes globally, and synergy will be great if Optis buys Pantech.” Chairman Byun explained about why he ultimately decided to take this position and the potential that Pantech has.
Chairman Byun is deeply involved in buying Pantech and he is first focusing on securing funds. Optis Consortium initially decided to buy Pantech for 36 million dollars (40 billion KRW). He is looking for additional funding to prepare for possible increase of price after inspection, and this shouldn’t be much problem to him because he has many connections in finance field.
Chairman Byun replied carefully of the design after buying Pantech.
He said that it is currently difficult to talk in details because the process of buying out Pantech is not finalized and that he will formally talk about the policy in either July or August after finishing Indonesia business to a certain degree. It seems that he will make a wide move that will compromise the whole company including both Optis and Pantech after buying out Pantech.
He is planning to prepare foundation for Pantech to enter into Indonesia after he is done with signing off Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by visiting Indonesia shortly. He hinted that there are not that much things to talk about because there are a lot of information that is tied to Indonesian government. He also said that this visit to Indonesia as many direct connections to Pantech’s business hereafter.
“Although Chairman Byun stayed in public office for long time, his view on not just economy but whole industry is very wide and detailed. He will play a huge role in establishing this company’s management strategy from hereafter and deciding which directions this company will go.” President Lee Joo Hyung said about the importance of Chairman Byun to the company.
Staff Reporter Lee, Hyeongsoo | goldlion@etnews.com