Citi Rides South Korea M&A Boom as Deal Activity Accelerates

South Korea’s mergers and acquisitions market has entered one of its busiest periods on record, supported by strong risk appetite and a more than 70% year-to-date surge in the KOSPI, with Citi advising on a series of high-profile transactions.

Recent deals include EQT’s roughly USD930m acquisition of a controlling stake in cloud software provider Douzone Bizon, described as Asia’s largest B2B software transaction outside Japan, and the IMM Investment–KB Balhae consortium’s 49.9% purchase of Boryeong LNG Terminal for KRW558bn (USD430m).

Citi also advised on Kakao’s KRW170bn sale of a controlling stake in Kakao Healthcare and on the KRW3.8tr sale of Hyundai LNG Shipping’s parent, Aegis One, to an affiliate of Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Group.