이 기사는 2021년 11월 29일 08:04 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

U.S. private equity firm TPG has made a partial exit from KakaoBank as the value of its stake in the country’s internet-only lender has nearly tripled in just one year.

TPG has completed its 250 billion won ($200 million) recapitalization of KakaoBank and a sell-down process through Hana Financial Investment, according to industry sources on Thursday.

TPG invested 250 billion won in the internet-only bank in November 2020 by acquiring the bank’s new shares at 23,500 won apiece. The PE firm financed the entire amount through its blind-pool fund without debt financing.

Despite some concerns that the digital bank’s valuation of 8.58 trillion won is a bit expensive, the PE firm decided to bet on the bank’s growth potential. Back then, Hana Financial Group was valued at the 9 trillion won range and Woori Financial Group at the 6 trillion won range. TPG was attracted to the digital bank amid the increase in non-face-to-face financial transactions especially after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The PE firm’s investment has borne fruit, with shares of KakaoBank closing at 64,700 won on Wednesday after making a stock market debut in the second half of this year. The value of TPG’s stake in KakaoBank has grown from 250 billion won to 690 billion won in just one year.

TPG has decided to retrieve all the invested capital, but keep its fund for a while as fintech transactions are gradually dominating the financial market and the bank’s growth potential is getting stronger, with the era of rock-bottom interest rates coming to an end.

TPG is speeding up its exit activities lately. The PE firm sold nutritional supplement company Health Balance to a consortium led by Stonebridge Capital in September for about 80 billion won. Baby food brand Bebecook and a stake in mask maker Filt were excluded from the sale.

TPG may consider an exit from its first South Korean portfolio company Kakao Mobility. The mobility unit of South Korea’s platform giant Kakao Corp, has restarted a process to select underwriters for an initial public offering next year, about three months after political and public criticism over its aggressive expansion put a halt to the process. The deadline for proposals was November 26. (Reporting by Se-hun Jo)