MBK to acquire Accordia Golf

By Kim Tae-gyu

MBK Partners seeks to tee up a high return by acquiring Accordia Golf, the top golf course operator in Japan, for around $760 million, one of the biggest deals by a Korean private equity firm in Japan.

The Seoul-based buyout fund announced on Wednesday that it would submit a tender offer to purchase all Accordia stock with some 17 percent premiums in comparison to the latter’s closing price on Tuesday.

Major shareholders of Accordia agreed to sell their stakes and Accordia also endorsed the process, according to MBK. In consideration of Accordia’s debts of some $500 million, the all-cash, all-stock contract is valued at around $1.3 billion.

After snapping up 100 percent of the stakes, MBK plans to delist the company, which runs 135 golf courses in Japan, or up to 5 percent of the total in Japan, from the Tokyo bourse to funnel its resources on longer-term projects with the aim of enhancing its corporate value.

Praising the fact that Accordia has established its brand and a firm position in the world’s No. 3 economy as a leading golf course operator, MBK Partners showed its confidence in Japanese investments.

MBK currently holds 25 investee corporations in its portfolio with $38.1 billion in aggregate revenues and 340,000 in aggregate employees. Among them, five are in Japan like Yayoi, Tasaki, USJ, Invoice and Komeda.

“MBK Partners is fairly confident that Accordia will enter a new stage of development in the domestic and global market, and realize its further growth while maximizing satisfaction of its golf members and users,” it said.

“MBK Partners is committed to contributing to the further development of the economy and financial systems of Japan through its continued emphasis on creating and raising the corporate value of companies in which it invests.”

Established in early 2005, MBK has focused on buyouts in Korea, Japan and China.

In Korea, it gobbled up such outfits as Home plus, the country’s second-largest discount chain, and Coway, a leading water purifier firm, and ING Life Insurance, a mid-tier life insurer.