This article was published on Aug. 27, 2025, at 5:16 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove website.
Koentec, a waste disposal company expected to reach a corporate value of 1 trillion won, will hold a main bid for sale as early as the 4th of next month. The largest shareholder of Koentec plans to finalize the main bid and select the preferred negotiator in September, and will begin the sale of another waste company, Corentech, after June next year.
According to the investment banking (IB) sector on the 27th, UBS and EY Han-young, the sale managers for Koentec, are expected to receive letters of confirmation (LOC) from buyers around the 4th to 5th of next month. The preliminary bidding was conducted at the end of June, and Ecorbit, Affirma Capital, Geocapital, the French company Séché Environnement, and the CVC Capital consortium have been selected as qualified preliminary candidates (shortlist).
Ecorbit, Affirma, and Geocapital are all but confirmed to participate in the main bid. However, it is reported that Séché and the CVC consortium are still weighing their participation, raising the possibility that the main bid will be a four-way competition.
Ecorbit was acquired at the end of last year by an IMM Private Equity (PE)-IMM Investment consortium for 2.7 trillion won. In this acquisition battle, IMM PE-IMM Invest is leading the deal. Both companies plan to acquire Koentec and merge with Ecorbit in a bolt-on strategy.
Affirma Capital is also expanding by continuously acquiring waste disposal companies. In September of last year, they partnered with The Hahm Partners to acquire the landfill company JNTec for an enterprise value of 510 billion won, and in June of this year, they signed a contract to acquire five to six waste disposal-related companies, including CEK (formerly KC Environment Service), from the Singaporean investor Equus Development for 400 billion won.
Hong Kong-based Geocapital is also regarded as a dark horse. Geocapital entered the Ecorbit acquisition battle last year, attempting to form a consortium with Singapore's Keppel Infrastructure, but ultimately, negotiations broke down, resulting in the IMM consortium becoming the owner of Ecorbit. The Korean branch of Geocapital is led by CEO Cho Hyun-chan, who previously worked at IMM Investment.
The E&F PE-IS Dongseo consortium, the entity overseeing the sale of Koentec, plans to complete both the main bid and the preferred negotiator selection next month, and will aim to propel the sale of Corentech as early as June next year. The sale price for Corentech is also estimated to be around 1 trillion won.
Initially, the consortium planned to sell both companies together, but now it has shifted to selling Koentec first and then selling Corentech later. Corentech's financial situation is improving, and the plan is to show signs of recovery by the first half of next year before starting the sale.