This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 1:57 p.m. on Jun. 24, 2026.
SK pharmteco, SK Group's contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) for pharmaceuticals, is moving to spin off and sell its small molecule business. The plan is to carve out and sell a business with relatively stable cash flow. In contrast, it has decided to keep the cell and gene therapy (CGT) business, which has strong growth potential.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 24th, SK Inc. recently approached potential domestic and overseas buyers to spin off and sell SK pharmteco's small molecule business. Macquarie Asset Management and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), global private equity fund (PEF) managers, are said to be reviewing an acquisition. No separate sell-side advisor has been selected.
SK pharmteco is SK Group's pharmaceutical CDMO based in Sacramento, California. SK Inc. holds 86.55% equity. In 2023, it received a $500 million (about 770 billion won) investment from Brain Asset Management and its subsidiary KY Private Equity (PE). At that time, it was valued at $3.51 billion (about 5.4 trillion won).
Last year, SK pharmteco's revenue was 932 billion won, up 9.6% from a year earlier. More than 90% of total revenue is known to come from the small molecule business.
The small molecule business is centered on SK biotek and SK biotek Ireland in Korea, and AMPAC in the United States. With production bases in Korea, Ireland, and the United States, it produces active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for anticancer drugs and diabetes treatments. In contrast, the CGT business is conducted through YposKesi in France and CBM in the United States.
The market had expected SK Inc. to either sell SK pharmteco in one block or spin off and sell the loss-making CGT division. However, because the CGT market is not yet fully mature and performance is highly volatile, there was a view that selling it now would be inappropriate.
By contrast, small molecules involve a high share of repeat production of already commercialized drugs, and clients find it difficult to switch manufacturers easily, making revenue stable. For that reason, the market views small molecules as closer in nature to assets favored by infrastructure funds rather than traditional buyout funds.
An IB industry official said, "The CGT business is a burden if you look only at current performance, but it has significant growth potential if the market recovers, while small molecules offer more stability in cash flow than growth," adding, "For SK, it appears to have chosen to sell small molecules at a fair price as an infrastructure asset and keep CGT."