이 기사는 2021년 09월 28일 08:01 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

French calibration services provider Trescal has acquired South Korea’s Institute of Calibration & Technology (SICT) to reinforce its position in the overseas markets.

Trescal completed its acquisition of SICT last month, according to industry sources on Friday. The French company bought an around 84% stake in SICT held by existing shareholders for about 78.8 billion won ($67 million) through its Korean unit, Trescal Participation Korea.

South Korean law firm Kim & Chang acted as a legal counsel to SICT while Yulchon reportedly acted as a legal counsel to the buyer.

SICT is a Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (KOLAS) authorized calibration organization, with maximum accreditation areas in Korea of 35 medium scale categories and 358 items.

SICT has continued to operate in the black since it submitted its first audit report in 2016. The institute recorded revenue of 22.8 billion won in 2020, up 6.8% from a year ago. Its operating profit grew by 22.5% to 8.2 billion won and a net profit increased by 23% to 6.4 billion won. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 27% to 9.2 billion won during the same period.

SICT changed hands in about 22 years after it started the business in 1972 as a department in charge of calibration and inspection of measuring instruments at Samsung Electronics' Suwon plant. It was spun off from Samsung Electronics in July 1999 and established as Samsung Institute of Calibration & Technology.

Trescal is a global leader in calibration services, offering an array of industries a single-source solution for calibration, measurement, repair, qualification, validation and asset management.

Trescal is expanding its geographical coverage through active mergers and acquisitions. It acquired Korea Testing Instruments Calibration Center (KTICC), IPAC Solutions in Australia, Instituto Amazonense de Metrologia (IAM) in Brazil, Physical Digital in the U.K. in December 2019.

The French company purchased Celemetrix and Mobile Test’n Cal in Australia and Qualcer in Portugal along with SICT. (Reporting by Gyoung-tae Kim)