South Korean ship builder snags DeWind for $50M

South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering said it acquired U.S. wind power company DeWind for $50 million to advance in the wind energy sector.

DeWind is a subsidiary of electric wire company Composite Technology (OTC:CPTC), based in Irvine, Calif.

The transaction is expected to close in the next 30 days.

The ship building company was first established in 1973 as Okpo Shipyard on Geoje Island, in the South Gyeongsang province. It is the world’s second largest ship building company.

Following yesterday's acquisition, Daewoo said it plans to invest $70 million to develop new wind power turbines and build U.S. production facilities. The company says it wants to be the world’s third largest wind power equipment maker by 2020, holding 15 percent of the market share.

The deal is expected to allow Composite Technology to focus on its high-performance electrical transmission products (see CTC Cable expands production capacity).

It is also expected to help accelerate DeWind’s growth plans for its products. DeWind designs and produces wind energy turbines, including a 2 megawatt model. DeWind has delivered more than 550 wind turbines since 1995, with a total output of more than 500 MW (see DeWind targets GE's home turf, DeWind, S&M in $90M turbine deal and DeWind gets added order from Seawind).