이 기사는 2021년 10월 29일 07시30분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

SK Ecoplant is wrapping up a process to split off its plant construction business, aiming to launch its new entity in January next year.

SK Ecoplant has requested some of the employees of its plant construction division to submit documents required to move to BLH Engineering, industry sources said on Wednesday.

BLH Engineering is a special purpose company (SPC) established for tentatively named SK Green Energy to receive a construction license. SK Green Energy is a newly created entity by hiving off the plant construction business.

SK Green Energy is not allowed to use the construction business license held by SK Ecoplant after the split-off. For this reason, the company seems to make BHL Engineering obtain the license in advance and start construction business immediately after the launch of the new entity through a merger with the SPC.

It is said that it normally takes 30-40 days to obtain a new construction business license. Given this, SK Ecoplant may plan to complete procedures related to the launch of SK Green Energy in mid-December.

About 60 employees will move to BHL Engineering. They will reportedly leave SK Ecoplant on October 31 and start working at BHL Engineering from November. SK Ecoplant aims to support the launch of SK Green Energy by additionally relocating employees of the plant construction division in the future.

Considering that the employee relocation has begun in earnest, SK Ecoplant has apparently reached an agreement with its employees at the end of September by vowing to provide welfare and compensation. Employee opposition has been considered the biggest hurdle in the spin-off of the plant construction division.

A consortium of South Korea-based IUM Private Equity and Mirae Asset Securities, which was picked as a preferred bidder to acquire a majority of SK Green Energy, is actively raising funds. Some analysts expect the fundraising process and the acquisition deal to be completed in November. In this case, SK Ecoplant will be able to launch SK Green Energy in January 2022 as planned.

SK Ecoplant will hive off the bulk of its plant construction business, excluding some operations such as the construction of semiconductor plants, nuclear power generators and data centers, and sell the business to the consortium of IUM PE and Mirae Asset Securities for about 450 billion won ($384 million). (Reporting by Byungkeun Kam)