SK Ecoplant eyes H2 2023 Kospi listing

SK Ecoplant Co., South Korea's largest waste management company, said on Monday it has sent a request for proposal to major brokerage companies at home and abroad to kick off its public listing process.

The SK Group's arm will choose bookrunners next month, aiming to list on the country's main bourse Kospi in the second half of 2023 at the earliest.

Its IPO timetable was released about a month after it agreed to raise a total of 1 trillion won ($830 million) from four domestic private equity firms, including Seoul-based IMM Investment Corp. It secured the PEF funding on condition of going public within a certain period of time.

SK Ecoplant has established itself as a leading player in the waste treatment industry through a series of acquisitions, starting with the 1 trillion won purchase of South Korea’s largest waste treatment company EMC Holdings Co. in 2020. 

Last month, it took over Singapore-based TES Envirocorp Pte. Ltd. for $1 billion to expand into the electronic waste disposal and recycling market.

For renewable energy, SK Ecoplant set up a joint venture with San Jose, California-based Bloom Energy, a fuel cell producer. The JV, named Bloom SK Fuel Cell, has been producing eco-friendly solid oxide fuel cells (SOECs) in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea, from October 2020.

Last year, Ecoplant injected about 300 billion won into Bloom Energy. 

Moreover, it has advanced into the offshore wind power market by taking management rights over Samkang M&T Co., a domestic wind farm substructure maker, for 459.5 billion won. Earlier this year, it announced its participation in a rooftop solar power project in Vietnam.

EFFORTS TO CUT DEBT-TO-EQUITY RATIO

Ahead of the IPO, SK Ecoplant, formerly known as SK Engineering & Construction, is working to improve its capital base and bolster its credit ratings. Its debt-to-equity ratio came to 339.9% as of the end of September 2021, one of the highest ratios among SK Group units.

The company expects a significant improvement in its cash flow and corporate value from this year, with its environmental and renewable energy businesses tipped to make profits.

Last year, Ecoplant hived off its plant construction business into a new entity, named SK Engineering Co. and sold preferred stocks in the new subsidiary for 450 billion won to a consortium of Mirae Asset Securities Co. and IUM Private Equity. The shares are convertible to common shares in the construction arm.

Meanwhile, the 1 trillion won funding it secured from IMM PE and three other PE houses last month is divided into 600 billion won in convertible preferred stocks and 400 billion won in redeemable convertible preferred stocks (RCPS). RCPS holders may ask the company to buy back their shares at a later date, or to convert them into ordinary shares. 

SK Group's holding company SK Inc. is Ecoplant's largest shareholder with a 44.5% stake as of end-September, 2021.

Write to Yeon-Su Shin at sys@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.