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

South Korea’s M&A market reached a record high on acquisition financing activities in 2019. Unlike previous year, new acquisition financing deals outweighed refinancing deals. Among private equity (PE) firms, MBK Partners and Hahn & Company stood out in the market.

According to the bell's 2019 league tables, acquisition financing arranged by domestic financial firms totaled 22.31 trillion won in 83 deals, compared to 14 trillion won in 75 deals in 2018. This marked the largest in terms of both value as well as volume. In 2018, a total of 75 projects worth 14 trillion won were arranged.

A total of 10.9 trillion won and 11.3 trillion won worth deals were arranged in the first and second half of 2019, respectively.

In 2019, new acquisition financing deals accounted for 53 percent while refinancing deals accounted for 47 percent. By contrast, in 2018, new acquisition financing deals accounted for 48 percent while refinancing deals accounted for 52 percent. SKC’s acquisition of KCFT (1.2 trillion won), Woongjin Thinkbig’s acquisition of Coway (1.1 trillion won) and IMM PE’s acquisition of Linde Korea (1.06 trillion won) were some of the major acquisition financing deals of the year.

A total of 13 deals were worth more than 500 billion won, out of a total of 83 deals. In 2018, there were nine deals worth more than 500 billion won. The number of big deals rose in 2019 as overall market size increased. It is notable that there were seven multi-trillion-won deals in 2019. Out of seven deals, five were related to Hahn & Co. and MBK Partners’ portfolio companies, underlining the PE firms’ impact on the domestic M&A industry.

The largest deal of 2019 was refinancing for acquisition of Hanon Systems which took place in September. NH Investment & Securities and Hana Bank arranged the 2.2 trillion won worth deal, with four more financial institutions acting as joint arrangers. Homegrown PE firm Hahn & Co. has invested in the world’s second largest auto parts maker Hanon Systems and attempted to refinance the acquisition of the auto parts maker as its enterprise value has improved since the first investment.

MBK Partners successfully refinanced the acquisition of retail chain Homeplus in October. The PE firm finished raising 2.15 trillion won to refinance its acquisition of Homeplus which the PE firm purchased in 2015. A total of 12 financial institutions acted as joint arrangers.

Other multi-trillion-won deals include refinancing of Ssangyong Cement Industry (1.3 trillion won) and Daesung Industrial Gases (1.25 trillion won), financing for SKC’s acquisition of KCFT (1.2 trillion won), and acquisition financing of Coway (1.1 trillion won) and Linde Korea (1.06 trillion won).

Most of the 13 big deals were related to PE firms’ portfolio companies. Three deals related to Hahn & Co.’s portfolio companies – refinancing of Hanon Systems and Ssangyong Cement Industry, and financing for Hanon Systems’ acquisition of Magna International - amounted to 4.2 trillion won. Four deals related to MBK Partners’ portfolio companies including refinancing of Homeplus and Daesung Industrial Gases and acquisition financing of Lotte Card, amounted to 4.04 trillion won.

(By reporter Han Hee-yeon)