KEPCO Runs Deficit in 60% of Overseas Firms which Received Its Investment

It has been found that Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) under a heavy fire due to the progressive electric charge system is suffering losses in overseas investment one after another.

According to the results of Jaebeol Dot Com’s analysis of various public disclosure data, in the fiscal year of 2015, KEPCO has a total of 51 overseas corporations which the company invested in and 30 of them, 30%, went into red last year.

Among them, five including Eurasia Energy Holdings has not chalked up any profit and 25 even went into red. The 51 overseas corporations which received investment from KEPCO posted 28.937 trillion won (US$25.16 billion) in total assets but their net income stood at 234 billion won (US$20.3 million), only 0.8% of the total assets.

For example, Bayan Resources, an Indonesian mining company in which KEPCO made investment in August posted about one trillion won in total assets but 30 billion won (US$26.0 million) in net loss last year. KEPCO purchased 20-percent equities in Bayan Resources for 618 billion won (U$53.7 million) after even issuing dollar-dominated corporate bonds in the US with cost cutting as a just cause. In addition, Canadian uranium firm Denison which KEPCO invested 80.5 billion won (US$70.0 million) from 2007 to 2009 posted 58.3 billion won (US$50.6 million) in loss last year.

It is pointed out that KEPCO’s losses in most of the overseas corporations which KEPCO invested in are blamed on the fact that KEPCO rushed to overseas resources development which the previous Lee Myung-bak administration concentrated on without carrying out proper feasibility studies.