Eastar Jet
Private equity firm VIG Partners has taken over the South Korean low-cost carrier Eastar Jet, while Seoul-based marine supply chain solutions provider SeaVantage has raised $1.3 million in funding.
VIG Partners buys Eastar Jet, injects $90m
PE firm VIG Partners on Friday said it has acquired a 100% stake in the South Korean low-cost carrier Eastar Jet Co and will be injecting 100 billion Korean won ($90 million) into the airline.
VIG will also be raising an additional $86 million via a rights offering for the debt-ridden budget carrier to service its debt and buy new aircraft, the Korean Economic Daily reported on Friday.
VIG signed a deal to purchase the stake for 35 billion won ($27.5 million) via its fourth fund from real estate developer Sung Jung and its golf course operation affiliate Baekje Country Club, the report added. The two previous shareholders bought the budget carrier for about 120 billion won in 2021.
Cho Joong Seok, former senior vice president of Asiana Airlines, will be appointed as the new CEO of EastarJet, the statement added.
Founded in 2007, Eastar Jet provided both domestic and international flights. The company had to suspend operations in 2020 due to its financial constraints. Korean low-cost carrier Jeju Air Co had signed an agreement to take over Eastar Jet in 2020, but the deal fell through.
SeaVantage gets $1.3m in funding
SeaVantage, a Seoul-based provider of real-time ocean supply chain solutions, raised $1.3 million in funding. The round was led by WeVentures, with participation from other investors like Bluepoint Partners, IBK Capital, Lindeman Asia Investment and BDC Labs.
The company said it intends to use the funds for global expansion of its ocean visibility platform, product innovations, and partnership growth.
Led by CEO Gene Song, SeaVantage provides companies with real-time and predictive visibility solutions to improve their ocean supply chain processes.
“With the platform, container and vessel status updates, schedule changes, and port & terminal congestion information are all visible, enabling ocean shipping professionals to take the right actions before things go wrong in their supply chain,” said the company, which counts POSCO, Hyundai Glovis, Samsung SDS, and LX Pantos among its clients.