South Korea: Hyundai Cement auction set to raise KRW600bn

The auction of Hyundai Cement, preliminary bidding of which is scheduled for 16 December, is set to attract bids from multiple prospective buyers, with the assets expected to fetch up to KRW600bn (US$515m), reports Korea’s Pulse.

Hyundai Cement currently supplies seven per cent of the domestic market, and the company’s location in the country’s interior makes it particularly attractive to Korea’s coastal cement producers, Ssangyong Cement Industrial Co, Tongyang Cement & Energy Co, and Lafarge Halla Cement Corp, all of whom are expected to bid.

Korean private equity firms – which already hold stakes in many of the major producers, including the three mentioned above – are heavily involved in the country’s cement sector. Other such firms, such as IMM Private Equity, are said to be considering bidding.