
IMM Private Equity has divested its remaining 1.38% stake in Woori Financial Group for 166.4 billion won ($115 million), exiting the South Korean financial holding company nine years after its investment.
The Seoul-based private equity firm sold 10,261,893 shares in Woori in a block deal on Jan. 9 at 16,218 won per share, according to investment banking sources on Monday.
In 2016, IMM purchased a 6% stake in the holding firm from the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. at 11,000 won per share for a total of 446.2 billion won.
It had reaped 625.4 billion won in proceeds from the three rounds of stake sales in Woori between 2024 and last week, on top of the dividend income of 180 billion won.
They translated into 2.4 times its invested capital and a 13.9% internal rate of return.
The successful divestment will pave the way for the liquidation of its third blind pool fund that raised 1.26 trillion won in 2015.
In addition to Woori, the fund exited Tailim Packaging Co., HD Hyundai Samho Co. and W Concept., a Korea-based women’s fashion platform, for decent returns.
The fund has also invested in online lender K Bank, car sharing platform Socar Co., cosmetics product maker Able C&C and online content platform Kidari Studio Co.
By Jun-Ho Cha
chacha@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.