이 기사는 2021년 10월 26일 08:07 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

GS Engineering & Construction, the construction arm of South Korean conglomerate GS Group, will invest an additional capital of 8 billion won ($6.8 million) in its wholly owned subsidiary Global Water Solution, to expand its water treatment footprint into Vietnam, bringing the total invested in the business to nearly 640 billion won.

The transaction will be completed in early November, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday. Global Water Solution will use the proceeds to increase capital of its subsidiary, GS Inima Environment, which will acquire Vietnamese water treatment company PMV.

GS E&C entered the water treatment market in 2011 by acquiring Spain-based GS Inima for about 300 billion won. Global Water Solution, founded earlier this year, is an intermediate holding company for GS E&C’s water treatment business.

The launch of Global Water Solution, domiciled in South Korea, signals the building company’s intension to list shares of GS Inima on the South Korean stock exchange via the intermediate holding company under a policy adopted by the Korean Exchange in 2011.

Companies that benefited from that policy included LS Cable & System Asia and Doosan Bobcat, which floated on the Kospi in 2016. GS E&C is working with Korea Investment & Securities to take GS Inima public.

A potential initial public offering is unlikely before the second half of 2022 because it will take time to complete due diligence of the water treatment unit’s overseas operations, industry watchers said. GS Inima has over 40 subsidiaries in the US, South America and Europe, and more is expected to be added as it expands into Southeast Asia.

GS Inima’s revenue exceeded 200 billion won in 2016 and reached 295 billion won in 2020, with its net profit growing to 30 billion won. The company recorded a net profit of 12.7 billion won in the first half of this year, up nearly 30% from 9.8 billion won a year earlier.

GS Inima has three business areas: concessions, operation and maintenance services, and engineering, procurement and construction. The concession business is a mainstay for the company’s growth, accounting for about 86% of its total revenue and helping to smooth volatility of revenues from other businesses. (Reporting by Min-kyu Sin)