Korean PE firm Hahn & Co to sell used-car platform K Car

South Korean private equity firm Hahn & Co. is set to sell a majority stake in local used-car trading platform K Car Co. as its initial public offering lockup period is over, allowing it to exit the investment with hefty gains.

Hahn & Co. selected Goldman Sachs as a manager to sell a 72% stake in K Car, according to banking industry sources on Thursday. K Car’s lockup period of one year was lifted on Oct. 12 after listing on Korea’s main bourse the Kospi.

The value of K Car’s stake to be sold was estimated at 444.8 billion won ($340.6 million) as its market cap stood at 617.9 billion won as of Dec. 15. The stake price was expected to rise to some 500 billion won, given a control premium.

In 2018, Hahn & Co. took over the offline used-car business of Encar, formerly known as SK Encar, from SK Inc. for 220 billion won and changed its name to K Car. The PE firm also acquired a domestic car rental unit from Korea’s CJ Group, which was later merged with K Car.

The PE firm already earned 300 billion won from K Car by selling its existing shares when it was listed in October 2021.

K Car has been growing rapidly since being acquired by Hahn & Co. Its operating profit surged to 71.1 billion won with sales of 1.9 trillion won last year from a 10.6 billion won profit based on 742.8 billion won sales in 2018.

Write to Jun-Ho Cha at chacha@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.