Park Jung-ho "Considering M&A Domestically and Internationally"... SKT New Investment, 5 Trillion Won Investment Over 3 Years

CEO Park Jung-ho Unveils Roadmap After SKT Corporate Split
New Entity Targets Net Asset Value of 75 Trillion KRW by 2025

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] "We will review deals and invest regardless of domestic or international boundaries, focusing on tech and platforms." The investment company 'SKT New Investment (tentative name)', which is being spun off from SK Telecom, plans to invest 5 trillion KRW over the next three years in new industries such as semiconductors, commerce, and digital healthcare. The goal is to raise the company's net asset value to around 75 trillion KRW by 2025, which is three times the current level, through aggressive mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and investments.

The new corporation will include CEO Park Jung-ho of SK Telecom, who is highly trusted by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and also serves as Vice Chairman of SK Hynix, along with M&A and investment experts within the group such as Yoon Poong-young, CFO of SK Telecom, and Noh Jong-won, CFO of SK Hynix, joining as professional management.

According to related industry sources on the 15th, CEO Park held a CEO briefing session for investors and analysts at the Four Seasons Seoul Hotel the previous afternoon, stating, "The new corporation will build a portfolio centered on semiconductors, high-tech-big-tech (life platform), and deep tech (global ICT)." He added, "We aim for an annual 30% growth in net asset value through active investment and portfolio growth," targeting growth from 26 trillion KRW in 2021 to 75 trillion KRW in 2025.

The briefing was organized to disclose the vision and strategy to investors following the spin-off into a telecommunications company (SK Telecom) and an investment company (SKT New Investment). CEO Park introduced the new corporation, saying, "As a semiconductor and ICT investment specialist company, we aspire to be an 'Investing Producer' by investing in innovative technologies and building ecosystems to expand net asset value."

SKT New Investment plans to invest 5 trillion KRW over the next three years, sourced from asset securitization, dividends from subsidiaries, and bond issuance. In the semiconductor sector, leveraging synergies with its subsidiary SK Hynix, the new corporation targets early-stage innovative alternative technologies with high growth potential within the semiconductor industry. It is also interested in areas complementary to SK Hynix.

In the big-tech sector, the focus is on expanding coverage connected to customers' daily lives around media, commerce, mobility, content distribution, and security, which are the main areas of existing New ICT subsidiaries, aiming to build a life platform. Initial public offerings (IPOs) are planned as early as the second half of this year, starting with One Store, followed by ADT Caps (2022) and Wavve (2023). The deep-tech sector will focus on high-growth future innovative technologies such as quantum cryptography security (IDQ), digital healthcare (Nanox), and future media (Krafton).

CEO Park emphasized, "The new corporation's investment areas will focus on tech and platform sectors," adding, "We will review deals and invest without regard to domestic or international boundaries based on a tech foundation." In this process, the 'portfolio in-and-out' strategy will be concentrated on. He also reaffirmed the existing stance that overseas companies, including Amazon, could enter as strategic investors.

CEO Park cited SKT New Investment's competitiveness as ▲ flexible investment execution without being bound by management rights ▲ building next-generation ecosystems based on relevant industry experience ▲ and management with over 20 years of expertise in each industry.

SKT New Investment includes CEO Park, CFO Yoon, and CFO Noh, who led the acquisition of the former Hynix during the semiconductor crisis, along with Heo Seok-jun, head of SK Telecom's Private Placement Group with extensive private equity experience, and Song Jae-seung, head of SK Telecom's Corporate Development Group with a background in major investment banking. The current leadership of major subsidiaries such as ADT Caps and 11st will be maintained.

Meanwhile, the surviving company, which brands itself as an 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Infrastructure Company,' will focus on AI-based subscription marketing business, metaverse (3D virtual world) business, cloud, and data center enterprise businesses linked to existing wired and wireless communication services. The sales target for 2025 is 22 trillion KRW.

This spin-off will be completed within the year after a shareholders' meeting on October 12. The split date is November 1, and the change of listing and re-listing is scheduled for November 29.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.