EQT Partners to acquire S.Korea’s SK Shieldus for $2.3 bn

EQT Partners AB, the world’s third-largest private equity firm, is poised to buy a controlling stake in South Korean security service provider SK Shieldus Co. for more than 3 trillion won ($2.3 billion), aiming to grow the company into a market leader in Asia.

EQT Partners is slated to sign a deal next week to buy around a 30% stake in SK Shieldus from its top shareholder SK Square Co., the investment management arm of South Korea’s No. 2 conglomerate SK Group, in addition to a 36.87% from a group led by Macquarie Korea Asset Management, according to investment banking industry sources in Seoul on Sunday. SK Square currently holds a 63.1% stake.

SK Group, which will become the No. 2 shareholder after the sale is completed, is to manage SK Shieldus jointly with EQT. 

In November 2022, the PE firm, under the umbrella of Europe’s powerful Wallenberg family, had been set to pay more than 2 trillion won to the Macquarie-led consortium for the stake while negotiating with SK Square for further investment.

VALUED AT $3.8 BILLION INCLUDING NET DEBT

SK Square Vice Chairman and CEO Park Jung Ho plans to announce the deal at MWC Barcelona, the world’s largest mobile technology event, to be held from Monday to Thursday.

EQT Partners, which manages 210 billion euros ($222 billion) in assets, and SK Square were known to have valued SK Shieldus at up to 5 trillion won ($3.8 billion) with a net debt of 2 trillion won.

SK Group’s telecom carrier SK Telecom Co. 2018 bought SK Shieldus, formerly known as ADT Caps, with the Macquarie-led consortium from the Carlyle Group for 2.97 trillion won including net debt of 1.7 trillion won.

South Korea’s second-largest physical-security service provider became a subsidiary of SK Square spun off from SK Telecom in 2021.

SK Shieldus accounted for some 30% of the local industry, following Samsung Group affiliate S-1 Corp. with a market share of 50%.

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