KG Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Company type | Chaebol |
|---|---|
| Industry | Various |
| Founded | September 2003 |
| Founder | Kwak Jae-sun |
| Headquarters | , South Korea |
Key people | Kwak Jae-sun (chairman) |
| Revenue | ₩4,983 billion (2021) |
| ₩308 billion (2021) | |
| Total assets | ₩5,346 billion (2021) |
| Website | kggroup |
| Footnotes / references References:[1] | |
The KG Group (Korean: KG그룹, IPA: [kʰeidʑi kɯɾup]) is a South Korean chaebol established in 2003 and operating, through its affiliates, in various industries and other businesses (including chemicals, steel, services, and media). The main affiliates of the KG Group are KG Chemical (its core company) and KG Steel.
The KG Group expanded through mergers and acquisitions.
In 1985, Kwak Jae-sun and other investors founded Seil, a power plant company. In 2003, Kwak sold his Seil stake and used the money obtained to acquire a company under receivership, Gyeonggi Chemical (later renamed KG Chemical), initially a fertilizer producer which diversified through merging, and established the KG Group chaebol.[2][3]
In the following years, the KG Group expanded through a mergers and acquisitions strategy.[2][3] In 2005, it acquired the cogeneration company Sihwa Energy (later renamed to KG Energy and then KG ETS), and in 2008, it purchased the delivery company Yellow Cap (KG Yellow Cap). In 2010, it acquired waste treatment company Eco Service Korea (name changed to KG ETS after being merged with KG Energy in 2011), the fund evaluation company Zeroin (KG Zeroin), and the media company Edaily.[2]
In 2011, the KG Group acquired the e-commerce company Inicis (renamed KG Inicis) and its subsidiary, the electronic payment provider Mobilians (KG Mobilians). In 2013, it acquired Eduone (renamed KG Eduone).[2] In 2015, KG Inicis acquired Dongbu Parcel from the Dongbu Corporation[2][4] and merged it with KG Yellow Cap, the combination renamed KG Logis, but sold it in 2017.[2] In 2016, KG Inicis also took a 60% stake in Samsung Allat from Samsung C&T Corporation and Samsung Card[5] (later changed its name to KG Allat and merged with KG Mobilians in 2019) and the South Korean KFC franchise in 2017[2] from CVC Capital Partners. In April 2023, the KG Group sold KFC Korea to Orchestra Private Equity.[6]
In May 2019, the KG Group established a special purpose corporation (SPC), KG Steel, by investing funds from group affiliates (such as KG Chemical and KG ETS), in order to take a 40% controlling stake in Dongbu Steel. It formed a consortium with Cactus Private Equity, a South Korean private equity fund, to finish the transaction. The acquisition was completed in August 2019 and the assets of the KG Group increased from ₩2.23 trillion at the end of 2018 to ₩5.256 trillion.[2]
In October 2020, KG Inicis, through a SPC called Crown F&B, acquired a 93.8% stake in Hollys F&B (the operator of the Hollys Coffee coffeehouse franchise) from IMM Private Equity, a private equity fund manager.[7][8]
In June 2022, the KG Mobility consortium (KG ETS, KG Mobilians, KG Steel, Cactus Private Equity, KG Inicis, and Pavilion Private Equity), a KG Group affiliate, was selected as the final bidder for South Korean car manufacturer SsangYong Motor.[9] In August 2022, South Korea's Free Trade Commission approved KG Group acquisition of a 61% controlling stake in receivership-bound SsangYong.[10][11] The acquisition payments were completed later that month. In September 2022, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court agreed to SsangYong's receivership exit plan, including issuing new shares in order to pay the creditors.[12] The KG Group was set to start the process to exit SsangYong's receivership in early October and finish the acquisition process on or before 14 October, the SsangYong sale deadline.[10] After delays, the consortium started the receivership exit procedures on 31 October by requesting the receivership termination to the Seoul Bankruptcy Court.[13] The Court approved the receivership exit on 11 November, finalising the consortium's acquisition.[14] In December 2022, Kwak said SsangYong would be renamed as KG Mobility by March 2023.[15]
