As SK Group doubles down on a full-fledged restructuring of its businesses ranging from semiconductors to energy, the major South Korean conglomerate continues to sell off units to private equity company Hahn & Co., announcing two deals this week.

SK Enpulse, a semiconductor part and equipment maker under SKC, decided to separate some of its semiconductor part business and sell its chemical mechanical polishing pad division to Hahn & Co., the company announced Tuesday. SKC is an affiliate of SK Group.

The transaction, agreed to in a board meeting, is valued at 341 billion won ($233 million). SKC explained that the sale aims to boost corporate value through business restructuring and to improve cash flow.

The carve-out deal follows the sale of SK Enpulse's fine ceramics business to Hahn & Co. earlier this year for 360 billion won. The fine ceramics division is considered a crucial unit in semiconductor production, making chip components that include silicon quartz and alumina. The business unit has been renamed Solmix.

The announcement also comes only a day after SK Inc., the group’s holdings unit, announced Monday that it has signed a definitive stock purchase agreement with Hahn & Co. to hand over an 85 percent stake in gas supplier SK Specialty for 2.7 trillion won. SK Inc. will continue to own the remaining 15 percent of the shares to facilitate cooperation with SK hynix.

SK Specialty produces special gases used in semiconductor, liquid-crystal displays and solar cell manufacturing processes. Hahn & Co. was selected as the preferred bidder in September.

While SK Group goes through a major shakeup in its business structure as part of its “rebalancing” scheme, accelerating efforts to optimize its business portfolio to address inefficiencies and financial strain, Hahn & Co. has risen as a key partner, having built close ties with the conglomerate through multiple deals executed in recent years.

Over the past seven years, Hahn & Co. has acquired stakes in multiple SK units and affiliates, including SKC's industrial film business, which is now named SK Microworks, SK Chemicals' bio-energy business SK Eco Prime, wet bulk shipping company SK Shipping, real estate and renewable energy developer SK D&D and SK Encar's secondhand car retail business.

This year alone, Hahn & Co. joined hands with SK Group on three occasions, including the acquisitions of the CMP pad division and controlling stake in SK Specialty. In November, Hahn & Co. decided to invest 150 billion won to acquire a minor stake in SK Plasma, becoming the second-largest shareholder of the bio unit.

The decision to acquire a partial stake in SK Plasma was evaluated as a rare investment decision by Hahn & Co. as the buy-out firm had usually focused on acquiring a controlling stake in a company.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)