Seoul-headquartered private equity firm ACE Equity Partners has agreed to acquire a stake in local semiconductor testing specialist Tesna for about 152.7 billion won ($129 million), according to a filing.
In a disclosure to the Korea Stock Exchange, Tesna said ACE Equity Partners will acquire 2.1 million shares, or about 29.99 per cent of the total shares, from existing shareholders for 50,000 won apiece for a total of 103 billion won ($87 million).
Additionally, the PE firm, which was established in 2017 to focus on investments in South Korea, has agreed to subscribe to 1.16 million newly issued shares at 43,091 won each.
When the deal is completed, ACE Equity Partners will become the largest shareholder in Tesna, according to the filing.
Founded in 2002, Tesna is a total semiconductor solutions provider in South Korea. Its services include test program development, wafer probe test, package final test, backend service, and turnkey service.
ACE Equity Partners, on the other hand, was established by former SkyLace Investment executive David Ko. Its portfolio companies include AimSystem, a smart factory automation software player in China, Woojin Electric and DongAh Chemical.
In November 2018, the PE firm acquired Daeho Tech, a medium-sized optical equipment firm in South Korea, in a management buyout deal valued at 400 billion won ($356.8 million).
Daeho Tech, founded in 1989, is known for manufacturing the 3D cover glass for edge phone displays. Its technology is also applicable to other manufacturing fields such as medical equipment and automobile.
It also purchased Woojin Electric Machinery Co Ltd, which supplies power equipment and electrical engineering solutions to Korean semiconductor and display manufacturers, for $200 million in February 2018.
ACE Equity’s acquisition of stake in Tesna comes as another South Korean PE firm, IMM Private Equity, raised around $1.3 billion so far for its fourth fund, IMM Rosegold IV.
The fund, which was launched in December 2018, is targeting to raise around $1.5 billion with a hard cap of $1.8 billion. The fundraising is ongoing and will be closed in early 2020.
