South Korea’s mergers and acquisitions market rebounded sharply in the third quarter as conglomerates accelerated restructuring and asset sales, with multinational investment bank UBS Group AG and the country’s largest law firm Kim & Chang extending their dominance in advisory roles.
According to data compiled by The Korea Economic Daily’s capital market outlet Market Insight and Seoul-based financial data provider FnGuide Inc. on Tuesday, the country’s M&A transactions involving changes of control and buyouts totaled 52.31 trillion won ($38.1 billion) across 249 deals in the July-September period, a 43.7% increase from the same period of last year.
The quarter’s largest deal was Macquarie Asset Management’s 4.86 trillion won sale of industrial gas supplier DIG Airgas Co. to France’s Air Liquide SA.
FINANCIAL ADVISORY: UBS STAYS ON TOP
UBS retained the No. 1 spot in financial advisory for a third straight quarter this year, handling nine deals worth 9.40 trillion won. Its mandates included advising SK Innovation Co. on a 3 trillion won monetization of two LNG power subsidiaries.
Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers (Samil PwC) placed second with 60 deals worth 8.80 trillion won, moving upmarket with advisory roles for SK, Naver Corp., Posco Holdings Inc. and Doosan Group.
Its standout role was advising SK Ecoplant Co. on the sale of environmental units to KKR & Co. Inc.
Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank followed, with Goldman advising on DB Insurance Co.’s purchase of US insurer Fortegra Group, the largest-ever overseas takeover deal by a Korean insurance company.
The German bank arranged GS Engineering & Construction Corp.’s sale of its Spanish water-treatment arm, GS Inima Environment SA, for $1.2 billion.
LEGAL & ACCOUNTING ADVISORY: KIM & CHANG, PwC LEAD
Kim & Chang held its lead in legal advisory with 40 deals valued at 15.37 trillion won, including Macquarie’s DIG Airgas sale and Hahn & Co.’s 540 billion won divestiture of Solmics Co. to TKG Taekwang Co.
Lee & Ko LLC climbed to second with 37 transactions worth 13.62 trillion won, advising Air Liquide on the DIG acquisition, while Shin & Kim LLC followed with 47 deals totaling 11.36 trillion won, assisting SK Innovation and SK Ecoplant on major asset sales.
In accounting, Samil PwC remained dominant, advising on 79 transactions worth 19.14 trillion won, nearly doubling Samjong KPMG’s 39 mandates worth 13.11 trillion won.
FINANCING & CAPITAL MARKETS: KB, NH, KOREA INVESTMENT SHINE
KB Kookmin Bank led acquisition financing with 4.19 trillion won in loan arrangements, narrowly topping NH Investment & Securities Co. at 4.10 trillion won and Korea Investment & Securities Co. at 3.39 trillion won.
NH Investment also retained its leadership in the equity capital market (ECM) for three consecutive quarters this year, arranging 18 deals worth 3.43 trillion won, excluding SPACs and REITs.
Its marquee transactions included rights offerings of over 1 trillion won each for Samsung SDI Co., Hanwha Aerospace Co. and Posco Future M Co.
Korea Investment ranked second with 15 equity offerings valued at 2.30 trillion won, while KB Securities Co. was third with 17 mandates worth 1.89 trillion won.
By IPO bookrunning, KB Securities remained at the top with eight listings totaling 795 billion won, including Daehan Shipbuilding Co.
In debt capital markets (DCM), KB Securities extended its dominance for a third straight quarter, running 238 corporate bond deals worth 16.60 trillion won.
It underwrote issues for SK Innovation (600 billion won), Lotte Shopping Co. (200 billion won) and SK Telecom Co. (190 billion won).
NH Investment followed with 184 underwritings valued at 11.30 trillion won.
By Eun-Kyung Song, Seok-Cheol Choi and Jeong-Cheol Bae
norae@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.
