SL Ceres Acquires Shinny Holdings' Stake Owning Affiliate Golf Course Royal Fore CC

Royal Foret CC Panorama

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Jeong-su] SL Seres (formerly Jungwon Leisure Development), which owns the golf course All Day CC in Chungju, Chungbuk, is attracting attention as it moves to acquire affiliated golf courses. By acquiring shares in Sinni Holdings, which owns the membership golf course Royal Fore Country Club (Royal Fore CC) through Sinni Development, it has initiated a restructuring of the governance of its golf course portfolio.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 23rd, SL Seres is acquiring shares in Sinni Holdings, which owns Royal Fore CC. To this end, it recently secured a secured loan of approximately 100 billion KRW from a consortium of financial companies. In the process of raising the loan, SL Seres put up the land and clubhouse facilities of All Day CC as collateral. The secured loan was executed in two tranches: a senior tranche of 70 billion KRW and a subordinated tranche of 30 billion KRW, based on collateral rights and repayment priority.

Sinni Holdings, which SL Seres is acquiring, is a holding company that owns 100% of Sinni Development, the operator of Royal Fore CC. Sinni Development, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinni Holdings, is responsible for golf course operation and construction. The previous owner of Sinni Holdings was Eisen No.1 Corporate Financial Stability Private Equity Partnership (Eisen No.1). It is an investment purpose company established by a consortium consisting of Eisen Investment (formerly Glenwood Investment Advisory), which spun off from Glenwood PE, Shincheonji Resort Co., Ltd., and Meta Resort Korea Co., Ltd.

Shincheonji Resort, a contributor to Eisen No.1, owns Imperial Lake CC, and its major shareholder is CEO Choi Dong-ho. Chairman Choi acquired shares of SL Seres previously held by Yangwoohoe and is also operating All Day CC. With SL Seres’ acquisition of Sinni Holdings shares, Sinni Holdings, which was jointly held by several investors, is understood to be incorporated as a subsidiary of SL Seres. This is interpreted as a measure to ease financial burdens, considering the acquisition of Oxfield CC, a golf course in Gangwon Province owned by SM Group.

Meanwhile, SL Seres was originally established as a subsidiary by the National Intelligence Service’s Yangwoohoe for golf course investment and business, holding shares before transferring them to Chairman Choi. Currently, Ahn Jung-gi, who was a security advisor to candidate Moon Jae-in during the 19th presidential election, serves as the CEO.