Baring Asia buys Korean leasing business from JC Flowers

Acuon claims to have 335,000 customers and a loan portfolio of $3.9 billion. The company was formed by merging three Korean lending businesses JC Flowers had acquired during 2015 and 2016. These included Doosan Capital, Acuon Capital, formerly KT Capital, and Acuon Savings Bank, formerly HK Savings Bank.

JC Flowers said Acuon as a combined company remained profitable during the holding period, with value-add measures including expansions of the retail consumer lending business, distribution channels, and IT systems. The US-based PE firm said it was pleased with the outcome of the investment and would look to do more deals in Korea. 

“We see Acuon as a rare opportunity to acquire control of a combined savings bank and a capital company in Korea,” Han Chul Kim, a managing director at Baring, said in a statement. “After a successful period of integration under JC Flowers' ownership, we are looking forward to helping the company accelerate its growth trajectory and capitalize on the increasing demand for alternative lenders.”

Baring is raising its seventh pan-Asia fund with a target of $5.5 billion and a hard cap of $6.5 billion. The fund reached a first close of $4.5 billion last year. Previous Korean investments include parcel courier Logen and construction materials business Halla Cement.

Baring is also an investor in Kyobo Life, Korea’s third-largest life insurer, having joined a consortium that acquired a 24% interest for $1.1 billion in 2012. Several of the PE investors have since exercised a put option against the company’s chairman after a long-awaited IPO failed to come to fruition.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Financials
• Buyouts
• Exits
• South Korea
• Baring Private Equity Asia
• J.C. Flowers & Co.
• Financial Services
• Secondaries