이 기사는 2021년 04월 01일 08:08 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

IMM Private Equity (IMM PE) has exited eight investments from its second blind-pool fund, leaving only two portfolio companies in the fund.

The PE firm’s blind-pool fund, Rose Gold II, closed at 755.6 billion won ($667 million) in 2012, attracting capital from major domestic limited partners including National Pension Service, Korea Post and Teachers’ Pension. Pavilion Capital, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, a sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Singapore government, also invested in the fund.

The fund invested in total 10 companies including Kyobo Life Insurance, Handok, Alvogen Korea, Hollys Coffee, SeAH Changwon Integrated Special Steel, formerly known as POSCO Specialty Steel, Tbroad, Hyundai LNG Shipping, Genexine, and Taihain Eletric Wire, of which four were buyout deals. The latest sale of Taihan Electric Wire will leave only Hyundai LNG Shipping and Kyobo Life Insurance in the fund. IMM PE has sped up the liquidation over the last two years ahead of the fund's maturity this year.

The fund has actively invested in biotech companies including Handok, Alvogen Korea, and Genexine. IMM PE sold its stake in Handok, which it acquired for 76 billion won, in 2018, generating an internal rate of return (IRR) of around 25%.

Handok bought a 30% stake in Genexine for 33 billion won in 2012 and its equity value dramatically increased since then. IMM PE also made twice as much profit by investing 20 billion won in Genexine in 2014.

IMM PE acquired 250 billion won of POSCO Specialty Steel's convertible preferred stocks in 2013 along with the private equity unit of Mirae Asset Global Investments. They initially planned to exit the company through initial public offering (IPO), but the company was sold to SeAH Besteel before the investment period ends, thanks to their tag-along rights. The investment generated an IRR of approximately 19% in just one and a half years.

IMM PE purchased a 20.13% stake in Tbroad for some 200 billion won together with JNT Investment in 2014, with a condition that the company would go public by 2017. However, the IPO attempt flopped and SK Telecom acquired Tbroad and merged it with its subsidiary SK Broadband. IMM PE exited the company five years after its investment, posting an IRR of 17%.

In 2015, the PE firm acquired a controlling stake in Tailim Packaging for 240 billion won and sold it to Sae-A for 730 billion won in 2019, earning more than twice what it invested. The investment generated an IRR of 20%, pushing up the overall return of the fund.

IMM PE sold a 93% stake in Hollys Coffee to KG Group, which gave the PE firm around 200 billion won in cash. The investment generated an IRR of 22%.

The fund's first investment was Kyobo Life Insurance. A consortium of IMM PE, Affinity Equity Partners and Baring PEA acquired a 24 % stake in the insurer for around 1.2 trillion won on condition that it could exercise a put option that the consortium could sell the stake back to Kyobo Life CEO Shin Chang-jae if the IPO plan fell apart.

The exit is expected to take a while amid a dispute between the consortium and Shin on whether the consortium can exercise the put option at nearly double the price Shin is willing to pay.

IMM PE is expected to exit Hyundai LNG Shipping soon, in which it invested total 500 billion won along with IMM Investment. (Reporting by Si-eun Park)