이 기사는 2021년 09월 16일 08:06 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korea’s mid-sized fashion company F&F has strengthened its control over global golf equipment company TaylorMade by acquiring an additional stake.

F&F recently said in its regulatory filing that it raised its stake in TaylorMade by purchasing an additional stake in a special purpose company (SPC) established to acquire the golf equipment company. It acquired a 9.3% stake from Yuanta Securities for 58 billion won ($49 million), increasing its stake to 57.82%. F&F’s investment in the acquisition has increased to 558 billion won, including the latest purchase.

Centroid Investment signed a stock purchase agreement with KPS Capital Partners, the largest shareholder of TaylorMade, in the first half and created the SPC to acquire 100% of 19th Holdings Cooperatief, which owns TaylorMade.

The 2.07 trillion won SPC consists of 1 trillion won worth debt financing, 463.3 billion worth mezzanines and 605.9 billion won worth equity. Of the total, F&F decided to invest 200 billion won in mezzanines and 300 billion won in equity.

The clothing company plans to finance its 500 billion won investment using short-term borrowings.

Meanwhile, Hansung F.I, a South Korean clothing company with expertise in golf apparel, faced troubles as Centroid reportedly planned to terminate the licensing partnership between TaylorMade and Hansung.

Last year, Hansung was chosen by TaylorMade as its apparel business partner and the contract was supposed to be effective for the next 10 years.

Regarding the issue, F&F said it was already aware of the deal between TaylorMade and Hansung, before participating as a strategic investor. It said that the purpose of the acquisition was to take over the management rights of TaylorMade's headquarters, instead of securing domestic licensing rights. It also said it is focusing on the operations in the global markets.

The latest acquisition of an additional stake has enabled F&F to have a stronger influence on the acquisition process by securing more than half of TaylorMade’s stake.

The issues on domestic licensing rights have not been completely resolved, but F&F seems to have put top priority on securing the management rights as it is still in the early stages of the acquisition.

“We acquired an additional stake in the SPC as its value is expected to increase in the future,” said an official at F&F. “We plan to maximize the TaylorMade’s brand value by using our know-hows in the fashion industry.” (Reporting by Seon-ho Kim)