This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site at 2:07 p.m. Nov. 28, 2025.
VL Investment, a private equity firm specializing in environment and energy investments, is reported to be pushing ahead with the sale of K-Eco, a waste landfill. Interest is focused on the background as the firm moves to recover its investment just a year and a half after investing.
According to the investment banking industry on the 28th, VL Investment is said to have contacted some potential buyers to sell K-Eco, a waste landfill located in the Geumwang Techno Valley industrial complex in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province. It has not yet selected a sale adviser and is at the stage of probing the intentions of those deemed likely to acquire it.
K-Eco is a new company whose landfill was completed in the second half of last year. VL Investment acquired it in May last year for about 90 billion won. The site area is about 12,000 square meters, and the landfill's total facility capacity is 1.5 million cubic meters. General waste and designated waste will each be buried at 750,000 cubic meters.
Last year K-Eco posted a net loss of 8 billion won, eight times that of the previous year. Operating loss and interest expense were 5,684,740,000 won and 2,332,640,000 won, respectively. Salary costs and commission payments also jumped to 1,842,500,000 won and 3,695,200,000 won, respectively.
A source in the investment banking industry said, "Because waste landfills incur many one-time costs in the first year of acquisition, the process involves covering them with future earnings," and added, "In K-Eco's case, a buyer willing to buy under suitable conditions may already have appeared."
VL Investment was founded in 2015 by Chief Executive Park Young-jun, who previously worked at Pohang University of Science and Technology POSTECH and Samsung Engineering. The firm has built a track record investing in urban mining, waste treatment, and environmental chemical manufacturers. As of the end of last year, assets under management were about 915 billion won.
A VL Investment official said regarding the sale of K-Eco, "Nothing has been decided."