Keppel completes Korean waste treatment firm takeover for $530 mn

Singapore-based Keppel Infrastructure completed the acquisition of South Korea’s leading waste management company EMK Co. for 760 billion won ($530.4 million) on Oct. 20, according to investment banking sources.

The infrastructure arm of Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp. was named a preferred buyer of EMK by the IMM Investment-Korea Development Bank consortium in July. 

The deal was around $600 million given the exchange rate at that time, but the value in US dollars dropped as the dollar-won exchange rate has risen around 10% over the past three months.   

It is Keppel Infrastructure’s first acquisition of a Korean company. The Singaporean firm was among the final bidders for Korea’s top waste management EMC Holdings Co. in 2020, but lost out to construction firm SK Ecoplant Co. in the 1 trillion won deal.

Keppel Infrastructure has come to own EMK’s eight Korean waste management subsidiaries via the deal. The transaction doesn’t include Shindaehan Refined Fuel Co., EMK’s biggest waste treatment subsidiary.

Keppel Infrastructure plans to implement bolt-on acquisition strategies by purchasing more waste treatment firms for a steady stream of cash flow.

Write to Chae-Yeon Kim at why29@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.