이 기사는 2020년 03월 03일 08시00분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

South Korea’s private equity (PE) firm JC Partners is garnering keen attention as the PE firm has joined a deal to acquire Logen Logistics at the last minute.

According to industry sources on February 27, JC Partners recently submitted a letter of intent (LOI) to acquire Logen and is preparing to conduct a virtual data room (VDR) due diligence, which is going to take place soon. Several potential buyers of Logen, including JC Partners, are expected to weigh whether to finish the race while holding their management presentation. The final round of the auction is likely to take place at the end of April at the earliest.

JC Partners has decided to take part in the deal relatively late in the process. Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA), the sell-side of Logen, and its lead manager Citigroup Global Markets Securities have receive additional LOIs after completing the preliminary bid on January 15. It is said that JC Partners has expressed its intention to participate in the deal in mid-February.

The PE firm has been considered one of the potential buyers of Logen as it had invested in logistics industry with Lotte Group in the past. The PE firm had been mulling over the participation in the deal until the last minute partly due to Logen’s C2C-focused business model. JC Partners was founded by Lee Jong-cheol in July, 2018, who branched out on his own from Orix Private Equity.

JC Partners is likely to proceed with the acquisition process based on its prior experience of investing in and exiting Lotte Global Logistics, formerly Hyundai Logistics. Fund managers who betted on Hyundai Logistics at that time have joined JC Partners.

Back in 2014, Hyundai Group decided to sell Hyundai Logistics and Lotte Group partnered with Orix PE and acquired the logistics company in 2016. Lotte Group renamed Hyundai Logistics to Lotte Global Logistics and merged Lotte Global Logistics and Lotte Logistics in 2019.

It is said that more than one potential buyer other than JC Partners are weighing the possibility of participating in the final bid. The timeline for the deal is subject to change if additional potential buyers participate in the deal or there is a request from potential buyers for extra time to carry out due diligence.

(By reporter Rho Ar-rum)