[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Sangjin] Ecorbit, the top company in the waste management sector in South Korea, has been sold to a private equity fund. On the 26th, TY Holdings, the holding company of the Taeyong Group, announced that it has signed a stock sale agreement to sell its entire stake in Ecorbit to the IMM Consortium. The total transaction amount is 2.07 trillion won.
Ecorbit was established in October 2021 through the merger of TSK Corporation, a Taeyong Group affiliate, and Eco Solution Group (ESG), a global private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) specializing in industrial waste incineration.
Ecorbit is the leader in the domestic waste management industry and achieved an operating profit of 110 billion won last year, making it one of the key subsidiaries of the Taeyong Group.
Both Taeyong Group and KKR held 50% stakes in Ecorbit. At the end of last year, Taeyong Construction went into workout, and to resolve liquidity issues, Taeyong Group secured approximately 400 billion won from KKR using its stake as collateral.
Taeyong Group then decided to jointly sell the Ecorbit stake with KKR and has been negotiating with several potential buyers through a bidding process. The sale of Ecorbit's stake is part of the financial restructuring agreed upon with the creditors as part of Taeyong Construction's workout.
If the sale is successfully concluded, it is expected to contribute to financial restructuring and help Taeyong Construction exit its workout early.
AlphaBIZ Kim SangJin(letyou@alphabiz.co.kr)
