Private equity fund (PEF) manager Diocean Asset Management will become the largest shareholder of SK oceanplant.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 31st, Diocean Asset Management on the day signed a stock purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire SK oceanplant(100090) management-control equity.
It is structured to acquire all 22,256,969 shares (35.62% equity stake) held by SK ecoplant, with Osung Advanced Material participating as a strategic investor (SI). The acquisition price was set at about 410 billion won.
Diocean Asset Management is a company in which former STX Group Chairman Kang Duk-soo was deeply involved in the founding process, and it was established in Mar. 2024 under the name Diocean Partners. Its capital was identified as 2.6 billion won.
Diocean Asset Management was already selected as the preferred bidder to acquire SK oceanplant in Sep. last year and is understood to have continued negotiations with SK ecoplant.
Although talks were disrupted by opposition from the local community in Goseong, South Gyeongsang, the acquisition discussions gained momentum as Osung Advanced Material stepped in as SI.
SK oceanplant traces its roots to Samkang M&T, founded in 1996. SK ecoplant acquired it in 2021 for about 460 billion won. It later came up for sale amid SK Group's business restructuring.
Diocean Asset Management and Osung Advanced Material were said to have highly valued the fact that SK oceanplant has been winning new orders in the offshore wind substructure segment.
Meanwhile, on a consolidation basis in the second quarter, SK oceanplant posted sales of 170.484 billion won and operating profit of 19.344 billion won. Sales fell 29.1% from a year earlier, but operating profit rose 14.7%.