CEO Score, Recent 3-Year M&A Survey Results
Korean Air’s Acquisition of Asiana is the Only Deal Over 1 Trillion KRW ‘[Edaily Reporter Kim Soyoun] This year, the M&A investment scale of major domestic companies decreased by approximately 40%. This decline is attributed to global market instability and prolonged domestic demand slump, leading companies to reduce their M&A activities.’,
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, ‘According to CEO Score, a corporate data research institute, as of December 13, the total M&A investment amount for this year among 361 companies that submitted Q3 reports from the top 500 domestic revenue companies was 8.5808 trillion KRW, a 39.3% decrease from the previous year’s 14.1297 trillion KRW. Even though there was a large-scale acquisition like Korean Air’s purchase of Asiana Airlines, the overall M&A investment scale significantly decreased.’,
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, ‘The total number of completed M&A transactions this year was 50, a sharp decline of 42.5% from 87 transactions last year. Compared to the 2022 M&A transactions (150 deals), the numbers are about one-third. The sole major M&A over 1 trillion KRW this year was Korean Air’s acquisition of Asiana (stock number 003490).’,
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, ‘Kakao (stock number 035720), which expanded aggressively through M&A with 15 deals in 2022 and 8 in 2023, only made one acquisition this year—of Tainus Valley. SK (7 deals in 2022, 6 in 2023) and Naver (6 deals in 2022, 3 in 2023) also did not engage in any noticeable M&A this year.’,
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, ‘After four years since announcing its intention to acquire Asiana, Korean Air received final approval for the merger and invested a total of 1.5 trillion KRW by December 11, including the 8 billion KRW remaining payment for the new share acquisition, securing a 63.88% stake. The total acquisition amount, including the 300 billion KRW convertible bonds purchased in 2020, is 1.8 trillion KRW.’,
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, ‘Hanwha Aerospace (stock number 012450), in collaboration with Hanwha Ocean (stock number 042660), acquired a 95.15% stake in Dynamac, a floating offshore facilities specialist, for 820.7 billion KRW through a Singapore-based special purpose corporation (SPC). A forced buyout process for residual shares remains.’,
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, ‘E1 (stock number 017940) purchased Pyeongtaek Energy Service (a 100% stake) for 594.3 billion KRW through its subsidiary E1 Pyeongtaek Energy and acquired a 60.98% stake in Ebest Investment & Securities (now LS Securities) for 129.9 billion KRW through its subsidiary LS Networks. In the case of the Ebest Investment & Securities acquisition, LS Networks participated as a financial investor (LP) in a private equity fund liquidation, with no separate cash transaction payment.’,
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, ‘Sajo Daerim (stock number 003960) acquired a 100% stake in Ingredion Korea (now Sajo CPK) for 395.4 billion KRW, followed by purchasing a 99.86% stake in Foodyst for 252 billion KRW through its subsidiaries Sajo CPK and Sajo Ohyang.’,
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, ‘AmorePacific (stock number 090430) acquired an additional 24,950 shares (39.38% stake) for 632.1 billion KRW in Cosrx, in which it already held shares, and plans to acquire the remaining 48,000 shares for 147.1 billion KRW by April next year, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary. Subsequently, △Mirae Asset Securities (586.7 billion KRW) △Orion (548.5 billion KRW) △Shinsegae (470 billion KRW) △SK Chemicals (356.3 billion KRW) △LIG Nex1 (332.9 billion KRW) △Yujin Corporation (319.9 billion KRW) followed in terms of M&A scale.’,
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, ‘Among the researched companies, LS Electric conducted the most M&A deals. LS Electric acquired five companies: KOC Electric (59.2 billion KRW), TIRA Yutec (38.5 billion KRW), Korea E&M (10.8 billion KRW), CX Solutions (1.8 billion KRW), and LFMS (200 million KRW). Meanwhile, six companies including E1, Sajo Daerim, SK Chemicals, DB Insurance, LX International, and TKGT conducted two M&A deals each, while 33 companies including Hanwha Aerospace engaged in one M&A deal this year.’,
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, ‘The survey excluded transactions that were not yet completed or had an unspecified acquisition date.’,
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