Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- SKC, a leading polyester film and chemical material manufacturer in South Korea, announced the separation of its chemical business to establish an independent entity through a strategic partnership with a Kuwait company.

SKC, affiliated with the SK Group, said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that Petrochemical Industries Company K.S.C. of Kuwait would acquire a 49 percent stake worth 535.8 billion won ($476.2 million) in the newly established chemical entity while SKC will own 51 percent. Through material division, the new company will be established on January 1, 2020.

SKC said the separation is aimed at enhancing its business expertise and ability to actively respond to the fast-growing global market by securing flexibility in the business portfolio. The separated entity will produce and sell chemical products, while the remaining entity will focus on industry and semiconductor materials.

"To strengthen competitiveness by establishing a governance system that enables rapid and professional decision-making, and to pursue the dispersion of management risk by concentrating the enterprise's capabilities in specialized business areas," SKC said.

In June, SKC agreed to acquire KCF Technologies (KCFT), a leading producer of copper foil for lithium-ion batteries, from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a U.S-based private equity fund. The parent group has invested in batteries for electric vehicles and related materials.

SKC selected copper foil, a key material used for secondary battery cathode, as a future growth engine, considering its growth, profitability and market size, vowing to triple the production capacity of copper foil and develop thinner products.
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