News
Investor preview: the companies interested in buying Asiana Airlines
April 18th 2019
Former Jeju Air CEO Ken Choi has joined SK Group, one of the front-runners for Asiana. Read More »
A number of Korean companies are expected to be interested in purchasing Asiana Airlines. An approximately one-third stake is available after Kumho agreed to sell its interest and have Chairman Park permanently retire. Asiana creditor Korea Development Bank (KDB) swiftly rejected Asiana’s own restructuring plan, leading Kumho to offer its stake to KDB.
The front runner for Asiana is expected to be SK Group, one of Korea’s largest chaebols. SK’s chairman declined to comment about interest in Asiana when asked by local media last week. But SK’s interest is said to pre-date Asiana’s recent auditor dispute that resulted in Park’s exit and Kumho’s sale.
Former Jeju Air CEO Ken Choi joined SK in 2018 as VP Business Development. The position is speculated to be specifically targeted towards studying a bid for Asiana.
One entity also mentioned as a possible bidder is AK Group, which founded Jeju Air and brought the airline public in a listing that saw Jeju’s market capitalisation briefly exceed Asiana’s. But AK on its own is not expected to have enough capital to buy Asiana and provide the significant funding to re-fleet and grow Asiana. Observers caution AK is not a group to take risks.
Also said to be interested in Asiana are CJ, Shinsegae and Hanwha. Hanwha was interested in Aero K, one of three start-ups to receive a business license, but Hanwha is not a current investor.
Selling Asiana is expected to be difficult if KDB proceeds with plans to also sell Asiana’s LCCs Air Seoul and Air Busan. Air Seoul is wholly-owned by Asiana while Asiana holds a significant shareholding in Air Busan. Selling the LCCs separately from Asiana would weaken Asiana’s appeal as a new buyer for the full-service airline would not have a LCC solution. Regulators may be reluctant to approve more new airlines. Further, an independent Asiana would have Air Seoul and Air Busan as competitors.
