이 기사는 2020년 06월 08일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korea’s Hana Financial Group is looking to raise money for a private equity fund that will invest in H-Line Shipping, a portfolio company of buyout firm Hahn & Co.

Hana Financial Group, which is the holding company of 13 financial services businesses including Hana Bank and Hana Financial Investment, will soon begin to raise capital to purchase an equity interest in H-Line Shipping, sources said on June 4. It will likely target domestic institutional investors, with a goal to complete the fundraising by September.

In 2014 Hahn & Co bought Hanjin Shipping’s bulk-carrier business to found H-Line Shipping, which was invested in by its first blind-pool fund Hahn & Co I. The buyout firm, in partnership with Hana Financial Group, is launching a 1 trillion won ($820 million) project fund that will acquire the entire stake in the shipping company from the Hahn & Co I to provide an exit opportunity to its existing limited partners.

About 300 billion won of the 1 trillion won will be raised by Hana Financial Group through an underwritten sell-down process. The company’s affiliates are expected to invest about 100 billion won including a 70 billion won commitment from Hana Bank. The remaining 200 billion won will likely be raised from domestic asset owners such as pension funds and mutual aid associations.

Whether these asset owners will invest in H-Line Shipping depends on their individual views on the shipping industry. Many industry watchers are optimistic about the company’s prospects given its stable business model and ability to generate cash flow. H-Line Shipping recorded an operating income margin of nearly 25 percent every year.

The fact that Hana Financial Group, one of the country’s leading financial conglomerates, will act as a co-general partner for the fund could assure domestic institutional investors. H-Line Shipping’s status as a national shipping company and the possibility that it could benefit from the government’s policy efforts to support the shipping industry may also attract investors such as public pension funds.

Meanwhile, Hahn & Co is expected to raise the remaining 700 billion won for the project fund from foreign investors or by using cash held by its third blind-pool fund.

(Reporting by Hye-ran Kim)