April 19, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] SK Holdings, the parent company of Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group, will be making its way to the US this week to meet with global institutional investors as it seeks new capital to fund its strategic investment activities.

Top executives from SK Holdings, including its CEO Jang Dong-hyun, will be holding a four-day non-deal roadshow in major US cities including New York and Boston starting from Monday, with Credit Suisses as the lead manager, the company said.

The SK Group headquarters in central Seoul

The move comes as SK Holdings has been working to transform itself into an investment company which pursues strategic mergers and acquisitions that align with SK’s business interests, rather than a simple holdings firm relying on collection of dividends from its subsidiaries.

During the financial roadshow, the firm said it will share the outcome of major M&As it has successfully sealed in Korea and abroad. The firm will also present the details of its long-term strategy to shore up the firm’s shareholder value.

Earlier this year SK Holdings purchased LG Siltron, the country’s only maker of silicon wafers essential to designing semiconductors. Renamed SK Siltron, the firm is set to help SK’s chipmaking business achieve full vertical integration from parts production to assembly and finished manufacturing.

In the field of pharmaceuticals, SK Biotek, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SK Holdings, recently acquired Bristol-Myer Squibb’s active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility for small-molecule chemical drugs.

The BMS plant is set to be used as an overseas base for SK Biotek’s burgeoning pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing, or CDMO, business, according to the holdings company.

In addition, SK Holdings has set foot into the global logistics business by purchasing a 10 percent stake in China’s warehousing developer E-Shang Redwood Group.

The holdings firm has also invested in US car-sharing service operator Turo following its previous investment in Korea’s car-sharing brand SoCar for its mobility business.

JP Morgan recently rated SK Holdings as a “top pick” in its recent report while Morgan Stanley has forecast a rosy outlook for SK’s subsidiaries in the pharmaceutical and semiconductors business, it said.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)/ The Korea Herald