SK Networks completes acquisition of local EV charging platform operator

SK Networks Co., a South Korean general trading firm, said on Jan. 3 it has completed the acquisition of SS Charger Co., a leading electric car charging platform operator in the country.

SS Charger was spun off from domestic mobility solutions provider STraffic Co. on Nov. 8, 2022. 

Before that, SK Networks purchased a 50.1% stake in SS Charger for 72.8 billion won ($57 million) last August. Global private equity firm Anchor Equity Partners owns 29%, while STraffic holds the remaining 20.9%.

SK Networks, a unit under Korea's second-largest conglomerate SK Group, will soon rebrand the EV charging platform company.

SS Charger is running 1,650 EV charging stations across Korea and is planning to install additional fast-charging stations at 100 highway rest stops and 50 spots in urban areas by the first half of this year.

The company partners with public institutions, carmakers, big-box stores and taxi companies for EV charging. In September 2021, it became the first company in Korea to launch a monthly subscription service for charging electric cars.

SK Networks will increase synergy effects between SS Charger and Ever On, a local EV charging services provider that operates about 15,000 charging stations across Korea. The SK Group unit invested 10 billion won in Ever On in early 2021, becoming the second-largest shareholder.

The SK Group's general trading unit will also boost a strategic partnership between its car rental unit SK Rent-a-Car Co. and SS Charger. 

The car rental service firm is constructing a large-scale complex of EV charging stations on Jeju Island, aiming for completion by this year, and is planning to transfer 200,000 units of cars it owns to EVs by 2030.

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.