이 기사는 2021년 05월 04일 07시46분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Global investment firm IPM Group has joined forces with South Korean developer DS Networks as it looks to expand its presence in the country by bidding for Daewoo E&C.

The DS Networks consortium, which includes IPM and homegrown private equity firm SkyLake Equity Partners, hired Morgan Stanley to prepare a bid for a 50.75% stake in construction company Daewoo E&C owned by KDB Investment, industry sources said.

IPM is not yet well known in the South Korean mergers and acquisitions scene. Founded in 2014, the London-headquartered firm specializes in investments in infrastructure assets such as pipelines and power plants and infrastructure-related technologies. It has offices in San Francisco, Hong Kong and Seoul apart from the UK.

IPM has worked with South Korean institutional investors in several deals in recent years. In 2018, the IPM-led consortium consisting of Samsung Asset Management, Samsung Securities, IBK Securities, Hanwha Investment & Securities acquired a minority stake in a liquefied natural gas terminal in Dunkirk, France, in a deal worth about 1 trillion won ($895 million).

The investment firm also provided financial advice to Samsung Asset Management and OCI, a South Korean energy and chemical company, when the two firms jointly established a 130 billion won fund investing in solar energy projects in 2016.

Last year, the IPM-led consortium participated in an auction for EMC Holdings, one of the leading South Korean waste management companies. It advanced to the final round of bidding, but was outbid by competing bidder SK E&C.

IPM also launched an investment trust fund in collaboration with KDB Infrastructure Investments Asset Management (KIAMCO). The fund, called KIAMCO Turkey Mersin Hospital Fund, invested 46 million euros ($55.3 million) in a public-private partnership with Turkey’s Mersin State Hospital.

“DS Networks has joined hands with IPM whose network of infrastructure assets around the world would greatly help grow Daewoo E&C’s overseas business,” said an industry insider. “Synergies are also expected between IPM’s portfolio and Daewoo E&C’s overseas projects.”

Daewoo E&C generated 43.6% of its civil engineering revenues from overseas in the past three years, with nearly 78% of the plant division’s revenues coming from overseas in the same period.

“With its deep experience in infrastructure and energy investments, IPM is also playing a key role within the consortium in estimating a valuation of Daewoo E&C,” the insider added. (Reporting by Byung-yoon Kim)