Glenwood PE, Which Sold CJ Olive Young Shares, Enters Water Treatment 'Environmental Business'

Domestic private equity firm Glenwood Private Equity (Glenwood PE) has acquired three water treatment companies from Bubang Group. The acquisition price is approximately 260 billion KRW.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 19th, Glenwood and Bubang Group signed a share purchase agreement (SPA) for the Chinese subsidiaries of Techross Environmental Services, Bugok Environmental, and Techross Water & Energy on the same day.

Bubang Group directly signed the SPA with Glenwood without selecting a preferred bidder. The sale was managed by Samjong KPMG. Initially, Bubang Group planned to sell the entire package including Korea Resource Environment, but the waste recycling sector was excluded.

Bubang, famous for its kitchen appliance brand 'Cuchen,' acquired the water treatment companies HighNTech (now Techross Environmental Services) and LG Hitachi Water Solutions (now Techross Water & Energy) from LG Electronics in 2019 for 205 billion KRW and 45 billion KRW respectively.

Techross Environmental Services operates and manages water treatment facilities that purify factory wastewater and sewage. Based on its long-standing experience and know-how, it holds a top 3 position in the domestic water treatment operation and maintenance (O&M) market.

Its revenue and operating profit increased from 143.1 billion KRW and 4.3 billion KRW at the time of acquisition in 2019 to 194.1 billion KRW and 11.3 billion KRW last year. Due to strengthened regulations, the entry barriers are high, but demand remains steady, leading to a highly rated growth potential.

Glenwood acquired 100% of SK PU Core, a subsidiary of SKC, for 402.4 billion KRW this year, and additionally invested about 58 billion KRW through a paid-in capital increase to expand production lines at plants in Ulsan and globally as capital expenditures (CAPEX).

Last year, Glenwood spent 200 billion KRW to acquire LG Chem’s in vitro diagnostic medical device business (diagnostic division) and launched a new corporation called Invitros. It was noted that there was no loss of key talent due to successful employee persuasion at that time. Last month, Glenwood acquired 100% of the biomass power plant SGC Green Power, an affiliate of OCI Group, for 322.2 billion KRW.

In March this year, Glenwood made a big profit by selling a 22.56% stake in CJ Olive Young, which it had acquired three years ago for 410 billion KRW, for 780 billion KRW. PI Advanced Materials, acquired for 606.9 billion KRW (54.1% stake) from SKC and Kolon Industries in 2020, was sold to French chemical company Arkema for 973.2 billion KRW at the end of last year.