Eco Management Korea (EMK), a waste managing and recycling service provider in South Korea, is up for sale in a deal that could fetch up to 1 trillion won ($832 million), given the heat in waste processing and renewable sourcing business.

Local private equity firm IMM Investment has selected Credit Suisse and Ernst & Young Korea (EY) as its lead advisors for the sale of its full ownership in EMK. IMM sent out letters to invite sale managers to lead the bid late last year.

IMM Investment is looking to earn between 700 billion won ($580 million) and 800 billion won from the sale of full ownership which it had bought at 400 billion won from JP Morgan Asset Management in 2017. The deal may go up to 1 trillion won if competition heats up.

Potential bidders are SK Ecoplant, Ecobit (formerly TSK Corporation), and IS Dongseo while Eugene PE and E&F PE may be eager contestants from private equity fund league.

EMK was established in 2010 through a merger of the country’s six waste companies, including Dana Energy Solutions, Shindaehan Refined Fuel, and Korean Environment Development. The companies collect and incinerate waste generated from households and factories in their districts. They make profits by supplying steam and heat generated in the waste treatment process.

The company grew bigger under IMM Investment upon acquisition of KD Environment and Top Eco, now commanding 11 waste incinerators across the country.

Among EMK’s assets, its incinerators in metropolitan areas, such as Ansan and Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, are considered the most valuable as the metropolitan areas account for most domestic waste emissions.

The sale process for EMK will likely wait out unit the deal of local peer KG ETS’s ends. KG ETS aims to launch a bidding process on Jan. 27 to sell its environment and energy division.

By Kang Woo-seok and Jenny Lee

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]