이 기사는 2022년 03월 02일 08:12 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korean private equity (PE) firm SkyLake Equity Partners is seeking to sell its portfolio company NexFlex, with attention being paid to returns of its tenth fund, according to industry sources.

The price tag of NexFlex is estimated to be around 700 billion won ($580 million).

NexFlex, which was formerly SK Innovation’s Flexible Copper Clad Laminate (FCCL) division, was acquired by SkyLake for 90 billion won in 2018. Back then, SkyLake invested in the company through its tenth fund, which closed at 627.7 billion won.

If the PE firm sells NexFlex at its desired price, returns from the deal will exceed the fund’s total committed capital. SkyLake made a partial exit from NexFlex last year through a 40 billion won recapitalization.

SkyLake exited from its investment in Coating Korea among the fund’s portfolio companies. It earned nearly twice its invested capital by offloading Coating Korea in 2020. SkyLake partially exited its investments in A Plus Asset Advisor and Helinox by selling shares of the companies.

The fund has been widely expected to hit the jackpot thanks to its investment in leisure reservation platform Yanolja. SkyLake invested 60 billion won in Yanolja in 2017 at a valuation of around 600 billion won. The platform’s corporate value has increased to 10 trillion won and SkyLake still has some shares of the company. (Reporting by Hyo-jung Lim)