H&L Advanced, created when HD Hyundai Chemical absorbed Lotte Daesan Petrochemical, officially launched on the 1st as South Korea's first outcome of its petrochemical industry restructuring program. The company will halt operations at Lotte Chemical's 1.1 million-ton annual naphtha cracking center (NCC) in Daesan over the next three years and scale back low-margin commodity facilities. Its ownership is now split equally between HD Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Chemical, compared with the former 60%-40% structure. The parents will each pursue 600 billion won in capital increases, while the government is preparing a 2.1 trillion-won support package covering financing, taxation and permitting. The Fair Trade Commission conditionally approved the combination last month, imposing safeguards on price increases and discounts in the domestic low-density polyethylene and ethylene vinyl acetate markets, as well as restrictions on information sharing and personnel transfers. The restructuring also includes production reorganization around HD Hyundai Chemical's 850,000-ton heavy oil-based facility, integration and higher-value product investments, and related restructuring at Yeosu.