The number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) involving major corporations in the country this year has more than halved compared to last year.
On Dec. 20, CEO Score, a corporate data research institute, revealed that the number of M&As this year has reached 60. This information is based on quarterly reports submitted by 356 out of the top 500 companies in terms of revenue this year. It marks a 62 percent decrease compared to the 158 transactions recorded last year, continuing a downward trend for the third consecutive year.
The amount of M&A investments has recorded 14.95 trillion won (US$11.47 billion), representing a 12.1 percent decrease compared to last year’s 17 trillion won. However, the number of M&A transactions exceeding 1 trillion won has increased from 3 last year to 5 this year.
Among the M&A transactions completed this year, the largest in terms of investment size was Lotte Chemical’s acquisition of Iljin Materials, now Lotte Energy Materials, in March, with a total investment of 2.54 trillion won. Following that, Hanwha Group’s affiliates, including Hanwha Aerospace, invested 2 trillion won (US$1.53 billion) in the acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, currently Hanwha Ocean.
M&As in the IT sector have also been vibrant. Naver acquired the online used goods trading platform Poshmark, known as the U.S. version of Karrot Market, for 1.75 trillion won. Kakao invested 1.36 trillion won in acquiring SM Entertainment. Kakao emerged as the company with the highest number of M&A transactions this year, totaling six deals and investing a total of 1.41 trillion won, including the acquisition of SM Entertainment.
Meanwhile, this survey has excluded unfinished M&A deals, such as Korean Air’s acquisition of Asiana Airlines, Eugene Group’s acquisition of YTN, and Harim Group’s acquisition of HMM.