South Korea’s largest private equity firm Hahn & Company has agreed to acquire the fine ceramics business of SK Group affiliate SKC in a deal worth 360 billion won ($267 million).
In a statement, Hahn & Co said SKC’s fine ceramics business produces high-purity quartz and silicon carbide consumable materials. These materials are used in advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes.
The business has been a market leader for over 30 years and has become an integral part of the global semiconductor industry in South Korea, according to the announcement.
“SKC’s fine ceramics business is a market leader with attractive expansion opportunities in the global semiconductor industry,” said Hahn & Co’s CEO Scott Sang-Won Hahn. The acquisition, he added, reaffirms the PE firm’s continued conviction in Korea.
Hahn & Co has assets worth over $36 billion and more than 30,000 employees.
The transaction was not a first for Hahn & Co and SK Group. Last year, the Korean PE firm completed its acquisition of the industrial film business of SKC in a deal worth about $1.2 billion.
The deal was the largest M&A closed in the country in 2022.
Based in Seoul, Hahn & Co focuses on making corporate acquisitions in South Korea across a wide range of industries.
It also has long-established expertise in corporate carve-outs and government auctions, allowing the firm to secure fair purchase price multiples, instead of competing with pan-Asian private equity firms in open auction processes.
Last year, the PE firm closed Asia’s largest GP-led single-asset continuation fund for the $1.5 billion acquisition of Ssangyong C&E. In 2016, Hahn & Co. paid around $1.2 billion to increase its holding in Ssangyong to 78%.