South Korea’s leading brokerage firm Mirae Asset Securities Co. is set to sell its entire stake in LX Pantos Co., adding to expectations of a further delay in the domestic logistics company’s listing.
LX International Corp., South Korean logistics-to-trading conglomerate LX Group’s trading arm, said on Friday it agreed to buy a 19.9% stake in LX Pantos for 195 billion won ($135.9 million) from Mirae Asset Securities II Private Equity Fund.
The acquisition will increase LX International’s stake in LX Pantos to 75.9%.
“We aim to improve cash flow through dividend inflows and strengthen the governance structure by increasing the stake,” said an LX International official.
TO POSTPONE LX PANTOS’ LISTING
Mirae Asset’s exit is likely to postpone LX Pantos’ initial public offering (IPO) further, industry sources said.
Its second-largest shareholder Koo Bennett, known as Koo Bon-ho in Korean, sold 100,000 shares to LX International to reduce his stake to 9.9% in September as the subsidiary’s planned listing has been slower than expected.
He is the only son of the late founder of Bumhan Huengsan. His father was a cousin of Koo Ja-kyung, LG Group’s late honorary chairman.
Founded as air cargo company Bumhan Huengsan Corp. in 1977, LX Pantos has grown into a major logistics company thanks to stable orders through internal deals with companies owned or run by families or relatives of LG Group.
LX Pantos suffered weaker earnings last year due to plunging ocean freight rates. Its operating profit tumbled 58.3% to 156 billion won in 2023 with sales down 35.5% to 6.9 trillion won.
By Ji-Eun Ha
hazzys@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.
