This article was published on May 20, 2025, at 4:06 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site.
SK ecoplant is moving to reorganize its environmental business and is pushing to sell TES. Initially, industry observations predominated that TES would be excluded from the sale.
According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on the 20th, SK ecoplant is promoting the sale of its entire environmental business. In addition to the total sale of domestic eco-friendly subsidiaries such as Renewus (formerly Environmental Facility Management) and Renewon (formerly DAEWON Green Energy), the Singapore-based TES has also been included in the sale.
Previously, the market perceived that SK ecoplant had excluded TES from the sale target. Recent assessments indicated that TES is closely related to the business as SK ecoplant attempts to transition its subsidiaries toward artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors.
It appears SK ecoplant decided to sell following the financial burden due to the poor performance of TES. SK ecoplant acquired 100% equity in TES for about 1.2 trillion won through its Singapore investment corporation EcoFrontier in February 2022. At that time, 800 billion won was procured through loans from financial institutions.
SK ecoplant aimed to target the global electronic and electrical waste recycling market with TES at the forefront. Sales increased due to the global data center information technology (IT) asset disposal service business; however, profits declined. EcoFrontier's net loss grew to 946 million won last year, more than double the 432 million won in 2022.
A representative of SK ecoplant noted, "There are no plans to sell TES," and added, "The market environment has changed, with IT equipment replacement cycles extended and waste amounts decreasing, leading to deteriorated performance." They also remarked that "the performance of EcoFrontier, a special purpose corporation (SPC), does not completely align with that of SK TES."