IMM Investment Corp., a South Korean private equity firm, is poised to acquire a 49.9% stake in Boryeong LNG Terminal Co. from SK Innovation Co., a deal that will make GS Energy Corp. the terminal’s largest shareholder.
GS Energy, which jointly operates the terminal, will buy an additional 0.1% stake from SK Innovation to gain management control, according to investment banking sources last week.
SK Innovation, an intermediary holding firm of South Korea’s No. 2 conglomerate SK Group, has selected IMM Investment as the preferred bidder for its stake, valuing the transaction at around 600 billion won ($420 million).
Competing bidders included Macquarie Asset Management and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a Canadian pension fund, as well as a consortium of Seoul-based Noh & Partners and Korea Investment & Securities Co.
Standard Chartered Securities advised SK Innovation on the sale.
GS ENERGY’S ROLE IN THE DEAL
People familiar with the matter said GS Energy played a key role in selecting IMM Investment as the preferred buyer.
GS Energy, which already holds a 50% stake in the terminal, a 50:50 joint venture with SK Innocation, had sought a partner it could work closely with on future operations.
IMM has maintained close ties with GS Group since acquiring GS ITM, an IT service provider for GS Group units, in 2018. The deal helped the energy-to-retail-focused conglomerate shielded itself from political pressure to reduce intra-group transactions.
Under the new ownership structure, GS Energy will hold 50.1% and IMM Investment 49.9%.
IMM Investment and its affiliate IMM Private Equity have been expanding their energy infrastructure portfolio in South Korea, spanning from midstream to downstream operations.
Early this year, they increased their stake to 100% in Hyundai LNG Shipping, South Korea’s top liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker operator, from 79.23%.
Boryeong LNG Terminal, established in 2013 as a joint venture between SK E&S Co. and GS Energy, stores and regasifies imported LNG for supply to power plants and petrochemical companies.
In 2024, the terminal operator reported 93.9 billion won in operating profit on revenue of 256 billion won, with annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) estimated at around 200 billion won.
By Jong-Kwan Park
pjk@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.
