April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] MBK Partners, the nation’s largest private equity firm, has recently been named the preferred bidder to acquire Daesung Industrial Gases according to news reports on Feb. 17.

The firm has bid about 2 trillion won (US$1.75 billion), beating two other competitors -- US-based Texas Pacific Group and Pacific Alliance Group of Hong Kong. 

MBK Partners Chairman Kim Byung-joo

The Daesung Group Partners and Goldman Sachs consortium plans to finalize the deal with MBK by April.

In 2014, Goldman Sachs acquired a 60 percent stake in Daesung Industrial Gases. Although Daesung Group Partners owns a call option for the stake, it did not exercise it and opted to bundle its 30 percent stake to use the proceeds to pay off increasing debts worth a total 245.5 billion won maturing in March and April. The net proceeds for Daesung Group Partners would reach around 200 billion won to 300 billion won.

Daesung Industrial Gas supplies industrial gas across industries such as steel, petrochemical and semiconductor. In 2015, the company posted sales of 581.1 billion won and operating profit of 53.9 billion won.

By Alex Lee (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)