이 기사는 2020년 07월 01일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Credit Suisse will receive binding offers for Doosan Co Ltd’s hydraulic components business unit Doosan Corporation Mottrol on July 13, sources said on June 29.

Six shortlisted bidders, which have been conducting due diligence for the last few weeks, are expected to propose in their final offers terms for a long-term supply agreement to address the target’s revenue uncertainty that could be caused by a possible sale of Doosan Infracore.

Doosan Infracore, which will also be offloaded by cash-strapped Doosan Group, has been one of the key customers of Doosan Corporation Mottrol’s hydraulic components even before the equipment company was acquired by the conglomerate in 2005.

In 2019 internal transactions, mostly with Doosan Infracore, accounted for 14.6 percent of Doosan Corporation Mottrol’s total revenue. The potential bidders are worrying that the acquisition of Doosan Infracore by a foreign investor could affect the target’s future revenue as the new owner could decide to stop using Doosan Corporation Mottrol’s products.

“There had been concerns that the auction for Doosan Corporation Mottrol could be put on halt after rumors about a sale of Doosan Infracore swirled. But apparently the auction process is proceeding as scheduled,” an industry insider said. “The seller’s guarantee on a long-term supply agreement between Doosan Infracore and Doosan Corporation Mottrol is necessary for the sale process to gain momentum.”

There is another obstacle that could make the potential bidders hesitate to make their final offers. The acquisition of Doosan Corporation Mottrol’s defense business is subject to approval from the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. This means financial investors may have to partner with strategic investors to acquire the target as a whole.

The shortlisted bidders, announced after the preliminary bidding on May 28, include a consortium of Socius Advisors and Well to Sea Investment and a consortium of NH Investment & Securities Private Equity and Opus Private Equity as well as foreign private equity firms that submitted belated tentative offers.

(Reporting by Ar-rum Rho)