This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 4:06 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2025.
As DL Chemical is pushing to sell control of its subsidiary Cariflex, which makes specialty latex, it was confirmed that the company recently cut its sale mandate contract with Citi Global Markets Securities. DL Chemical has been pursuing the sale of Cariflex since September but has not even begun preliminary bidding; with the sudden replacement of the deal manager in this situation, the pace of the deal is expected to slow further.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 19th, DL Chemical is recently searching for a new sale manager for Cariflex. This comes after it terminated its contract with Citi.
Cariflex is a company that DL Chemical acquired in 2020 for 620 billion won from global chemical company Kraton. It holds the No. 1 position worldwide in isoprene rubber latex (IRL), a material for surgical specialty gloves and contraceptives. DL Chemical invested 500 billion won in 2022 to expand production facilities in Singapore, and last year achieved annual sales of 240 billion won.
In September, DL Chemical put the Cariflex sale card on the table and began the process of selecting a manager. The plan was to use the sale proceeds to first put out fires in the petrochemical sector. The desired sale price is known to be in the mid- to high-1 trillion won range. Goldman Sachs was initially mentioned as a strong candidate to run the deal, but Citi won the mandate after fierce competition.
However, the Cariflex sale has struggled to gain momentum even after three months. An IB industry official said, "Several global private equity (PE) firms are interested, but they hesitate because the price is too high," and added, "It is also a problem that DL Group keeps wavering and failing to make decisions at each stage."
Amid this, with the sudden termination of the contract even with the sale manager, there is talk that it is impossible to say when preliminary bidding will take place. It is known that multiple domestic and foreign IBs are currently contacting DL Group to be appointed as the new manager.
Cariflex is not the only DL Group deal that is dragging. In the case of the sale of DL Energy, IPM Asset Management was selected as the preferred negotiating partner early this year, but a final contract has still not been signed. The total sale price is 1 trillion won, with 400 billion won to be raised as equity and the remaining 600 billion won to be financed through acquisition financing.