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South Korean conglomerate SKC Ltd. plans to sell its polyol subsidiary, SK Pucore, formerly Mitsui Chemical & SKC Polyurethanes Inc. (MCNS), to private equity firm Glenwood PE. The divestiture signals SKC's strategic realignment towards growth sectors and EV battery materials production.
MCNS was set up by SKC and Japan's Mitsui Chemicals Inc. as part of their joint venture agreement in 2015. Their deal was worth KRW500 billion or around $389.7 million at that time. Now, it is for sale and expected to be acquired by said alternative investment firm headquartered in South Korea.
SKC made the decision to sell so it can expand and seek new growth engines from new business sectors. Moreover, the company will also use the sale to raise its production capacity for battery material copper foil for electric vehicles. It may also buy new non-core firms using the earnings from the sale of SK Pucore.
The Korea Economic Daily reported that Glenwood Private Equity has signed a memorandum of understanding with SKC for the acquisition of a 100% stake in SK Pucore. The deal is expected to be completed by next month.
The agreement with the PEF company is possible as SKC and Mitsui Chemicals agreed to terminate their joint venture contract in September 2021. As a result, MCNS became a wholly-owned subsidiary of SKC and rebranded as SK Pucore.
According to Pulse News, Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Korean member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, is serving as the financial adviser for Glenwood Private Equity. The deal may be worth 10 times more based on last year's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) which was at KRW48.8 billion.
"This year, we plan to strengthen the competitiveness of our core businesses by expanding global expansion and sales of copper foil and increasing the proportion of high-value-added products in our semiconductor and chemical businesses," SKC's CEO Park Won Cheol said in a statement a few months ago. "We will expand new growth businesses through active additional mergers and acquisitions."
Photo by: SKC Website
