이 기사는 2020년 04월 03일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korea’s Haitai Confectionery & Foods sells its subsidiary Haitai Ice Cream to Binggrae.

Haitai Confectionery & Foods held a board meeting on March 31 and approved its sale of an entire 100 percent stake in Haitai Ice Cream to Binggae for 140 billion won, sources familiar with the matter said. Haitai Ice Cream was separated from Haitai Confectionery & Foods as a separate entity in January and since then Haitai Confectionery & Foods has sold existing shares and issued new shares of the new entity.

Haitai Confectionery & Foods received proposals from potential buyers on the amount of stake they want to acquire, which means the company has had options to sell a 100 percent stake, a majority stake or a significant minority stake in its ice cream business.

Haitai Confectionery & Foods announced its plan to sell its ice cream business and raise funds in October 2019. The company selected the new owner of Haitai Ice Cream six months after the announcement. Haitai Confectionery & Foods plans to use the proceeds to concentrate on its confectionary business.

Even though Haitai Confectionary & Foods initially wanted to negotiate with financial investors, private equity firms that reviewed the investment were reportedly hesitant to acquire the business considering Haitai Ice Cream’s earnings performance and financial status. The fact that Haitai Ice Cream has recorded operating losses over the past few years was one of the key risks.

According to company’s semi-annual report, Lotte Confectionary, Lotte Food and Binggrae recorded sales of 286.4 billion won, 223.9 billion won and 187.4 billion won, respectively, from their ice cream businesses during the first half of 2019. During the same period, Haitai Ice Cream posted sales of 163.4 billion won.

Haitai Ice Cream makes products that are familiar to customers, such as Bravo Cone, Nougatbar and Babamba. Haitai Ice Cream is one of the big 4 companies in the country’s ice cream industry, along with Lotte Confectionary, Lotte Food and Binggrae. The company has been seeking new growth engines since 2018.

(By reporter Roh Ar-rum)