This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:24 p.m. on Feb. 26, 2026.
Alchemist Capital Partners Korea (hereafter Alchemist), a private equity fund (PEF) manager that is pushing to sell SK TNS, the No. 1 contractor in the 5th-generation (5G) mobile network infrastructure construction industry, has played the "guarantee of SK Group affiliate order volume" card. Because the fund's maturity is near, this is interpreted as offering incentives to potential buyers to quickly close the sale.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 26th, Alchemist is currently gauging acquisition interest for SK TNS from multiple PEF managers. The asset for sale is 100% of SK TNS's equity. A preliminary bid was held in the second half of last year, and Anchor Equity Partners, Keystone Partners and KCA Capital Partners submitted letters of intent (LOIs).
At the time of the preliminary bid, potential buyers reportedly proposed a purchase price in the low 300 billion-won range. Alchemist, which expected about 400 billion won, was disappointed and temporarily halted the sale, but recently resumed the process. It is believed the sale was restarted because the fund that acquired SK TNS will mature in the first half of this year.
Potential buyers reportedly fear that if ownership of SK TNS changes, SK-related order volume could disappear. The late Eun Jin-hyuk, who led Alchemist and died early last year, was known to have close ties with Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group. Therefore, if SK TNS is taken over by another manager and moves away from "Eun Jin-hyuk's Alchemist," there is speculation it would be difficult to guarantee SK-related sales. SK TNS's main clients are SK Telecom and SK Broadband.
The seller, mindful of this point, is said to have promised potential buyers that SK-related orders would be maintained for at least five years. However, since this is not a written condition, buyers would have to bet on uncertainty. Some of those who participated in the preliminary bid are reported to be withdrawing from the acquisition.
A source in the IB industry said, "The captive volume is still only a verbal promise, and I understand more discussions are needed between the seller and SK," adding, "Even with that condition, financial investors (FI) will have to try to sell again after a certain period, and the same issue could arise then, so they have to be cautious about bidding."
SK TNS, established in 2015 through a physical separation from SK ecoplant (then SK Engineering & Construction), engages in information and communications construction work such as base stations, repeaters and optical routes.
Alchemist was founded in 2017. In 2021 it acquired SK TNS from SK ecoplant for about 280 billion won. SK ecoplant invested 60 billion won as a subordinated contribution to the fund Alchemist raised. The fund's anchor limited partner (LP) was the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives (KFCC).
In addition to acquiring SK TNS, Alchemist drew attention in the past for its involvement when SK hynix acquired K-Fab. At that time, SK Group was accused of giving Alchemist undue benefits, and prosecutors launched an investigation.
Meanwhile, SK TNS's business is considered stable but growth has stagnated. Last year it posted revenue of 780.4 billion won and operating profit of 29.7 billion won. Considering that its revenue and operating profit immediately after the acquisition in 2022 were 748.5 billion won and 32.3 billion won, respectively, there is an assessment that Alchemist failed to enhance the company's value.