SK Nexilis to Pursue Sale of Thin Film Division to Private Equity Fund

Exterior view of Jeongeup Plant of SK Nexilis, an investment company of SKC in the copper foil business for secondary batteries. Photo by SKC

SK Nexilis is negotiating to sell its thin film manufacturing division, an essential component for displays, to a domestic private equity fund (PEF) management company.

According to industry sources on the 30th, SK Nexilis, a subsidiary of SKC, is in talks with Apalma Capital regarding the sale of its thin film business division. The sale price is expected to reach around 100 billion KRW.

Thin film is a thin and flexible copper foil used as a key material in electronic product displays such as smartphones and TVs. Thin film is also used in 5th generation (5G) communication equipment.

SK Nexilis is well-known as a copper foil manufacturer for batteries, but its thin film manufacturing technology is also highly regarded. The thin film division's annual sales range from 50 billion to 60 billion KRW, with an EBITDA of approximately 10 billion KRW.

With this sale of the thin film division, SK Nexilis is expected to focus on its existing copper foil business. Originally, the thin film business created synergy with SKC's core film technology, but the sale of SKC's film business in 2022 has diminished the rationale for continuing the thin film business, which is also considered to have influenced this decision.

Meanwhile, SK Group is accelerating its rebalancing (restructuring) efforts through the sale of SK Rent-a-Car, SK Specialty, SK IET (SK IE Technology), and SK Enpulse.

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