M&As among Korean Inc. halves H1, SK ecoplant most active with $1.4 bn deals

SK ecoplant Co., an environment-focused energy company under South Korea’s SK Group, has invested more than 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion) on merger and acquisitions in the first six months of the year, the largest among Korean Inc. amid thinned activity versus the bumper year of 2021.

According to an analysis by local business tracker CEO Score on half-year business reports submitted by 353 out of top 500 companies on Wednesday, 87 M&As worth 15.04 trillion won were expedited in the first half.

M&A deals in the first half halved from record-high of 29.3 trillion won last year, but nevertheless exceeded annual value of 11.96 trillion won in 2019 and 12.67 trillion won in 2020.

“The Covid-19 pandemic could not deter companies from looking for new business opportunities via active M&As,” said an unnamed official from CEO Score.

SK ecoplant sought four deals worth 2.06 trillion won. It acquired Singapore’s electronic waste recycling and IT asset disposal company TES for 1.37 trillion won, plant construction company Samkang M&T for 342.6 billion won, waste disposal company Clenko for 215.1 billion won, and waste disposal company JA Green for 132.2 billion won.

DL Chemical bought U.S. chemical company Kraton for 1.86 trillion won in the second biggest deal during the period.

Korean Air Lines came next with its 1.80 trillion won acquisition of Asiana Airlines that was carried over to this year, followed by CJ ENM (933.7 billion won in total), Hyundai Department Store (889.0 billion won), POSCO International (801.1 billion won), Korea Zinc (766.1 billion won), LX International (702.1 billion won), SK hynix (575.8 billion won), and SK (453.5 billion won).

Kakao Corp. carried out the most M&As between January and June – 13 in total worth 204 billion won. SK ecoplant, LX International, SK, and Naver came in next with four acquisitions each.

SK Group has spent the largest amount on M&As – 3.1 trillion won – in the first six months of the year among 76 business groups designated by the Fair Trade Commission. DL Group was next with 1.86 trillion won, Hanjin Group with 1.8 trillion won, and POSCO Group with 1.1 trillion won.

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