이 기사는 2020년 05월 20일 08시00분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Sampyo Corporation, a leading company in South Korea’s ready-mixed concrete market, is set to refinance loans originally taken out to finance the acquisition of Sampyo Cement in three years after its first such move.

Sampyo Corporation, the holding company of Sampyo Group, has appointed the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) to arrange a second refinancing of loans taken out to finance its takeover of Sampyo Cement in 2015, sources familiar with the situation said on May 15. The size of the refinancing is reportedly about 310 billion won ($253 million), with an expected interest rate of between 4 and 5 percent. The deal is expected to close before mid-June.

In 2015 a consortium of Sampyo Corporation and KDB acquired Sampyo Cement – formerly known as Tongyang Cement – in a deal where Sampyo Corporation and KDB purchased 45.08 percent and 9.89 percent stakes respectively. Of the 651.4 billion won acquisition cost, Sampyo Corporation initially financed 200 billion won in loans to close the transaction. In 2017 it completed a refinancing that brought in 220 billion won in new loans with a five-year maturity at 4.3 percent.

The size of the second refinancing has increased by around 90 billion won compared to the amount raised from the first round of refinancing. This is due to an agreement between Sampyo Group and KDB.

At the time of the acquisition, Sampyo Group had agreed to buy KDB’s minority stake in the cement maker by 2020. The stake held by the bank is currently worth approximately 193 billion won. Of this amount to purchase shares from KDB, Sampyo intends to raise 90 billion won in loans, which resulted in the increased size of the refinancing.

KDB has succeeded in killing two birds with one stone by arranging a refinancing and also exiting from its investment in Sampyo Cement. “KDB has been expanding its presence in acquisition financing deals since creating a dedicated team working on this area last year,” said an industry insider. “[KDB] continues to maintain an aggressive stance, offering interest rates around 50 basis points lower than the market average.”

In the area of acquisition financing and refinancing, KDB worked on 12 deals worth a combined 2.71 trillion won, according to the bell’s 2019 league tables. The bank took a 10.1 percent adjusted market share – which reflects both deal value and count – climbing up nine ranks from the previous year to come in third.

(Reporting by Byung-yoon Kim)