SK sells US car-sharing firm Turo stake to earn over $32 mn

South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate SK Group exited from Turo, the US top peer-to-peer car-sharing company, to make an estimated return of more than $32 million.

SK Inc., the group’s investment and holding company, on Feb. 17 sold a 2.98% stake in Turo for $67 million, according to industry sources in Seoul on Wednesday. 

The company bought the stake for 39.6 billion won ($34.9 million) in July 2017, participating in Turo’s rights offering along with German Mercedes-Benz Group AG.

Turo founded in 2009 allows private car owners to rent out their vehicles via an online and mobile interface in 7,500 cities in major countries such as the US, Canada and the UK. The startup based in San Francisco grew popular as it offered services at fares that were about 35% cheaper than those of the existing car-rental companies.

SK Inc. has been developing its operational capabilities in the global car-sharing business with investments in various companies in the sector. In South Korea, the company is the second-largest shareholder in the car-sharing platform Socar Inc. with a 17.94% stake. They formed a joint venture for the business in Malaysia.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.