SK Inc. Unloads Entire Socar Stake, Sold to Lotte Rental for ₩146B

SK Inc. got rid of its stake in Socar car-sharing platform. The holding and IT services company based in Seoul sold all of its shares to Lotte Rental for KRW146 billion, which is about $110.5 million in US dollars.

SK Inc., the investment unit of SK Group, confirmed the sale of its stake to Lotte Rental on Thursday, Aug. 31. The portion of the unloaded share is equivalent to 17.9%, and the company made this move to raise a profit of about KRW40 billion.

According to Korea Joongang Daily, once the acquisition is completed, Lotte Rental will become the second largest shareholder of Socar, with its shares going up to 32.9%. With the deal, SK Inc. is looking to gain a 148% rate of return since it purchased its Socar stake in 2015 for only KRW59 billion.

"Through the selloff, SK Inc., we plan to accelerate the virtuous cycle of investment in securing new growth engines based on the successful sale of existing portfolios to secure investment funds," Seoul Economic Daily quoted Yoo Gyeong Sang, the head of SK Holdings' Digital Investment Center, as saying in a statement.

As mentioned, SK Holdings is planning to invest more in business that can be the company’s new growth drivers, especially in the mobility sector which can include electrification and autonomous driving. The holdings group will use the proceeds from the sale of Socar and Turo shares to expand its mobility unit in Southeast Asia, with Soka Malaysia as the center, as this is where SK has management rights.

In any case, Turo is a U.S.-based peer-to-peer vehicle-sharing platform that SK Inc. sold for KRW88.1 billion in March this year. The company earned a 121% return from the sale because it was bought for only KRW39.6 billion in 2017.

Photo by: SK Inc. Media Center