By Kane Wu and Yantoultra Ngui
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Macquarie Asset Management has shortlisted Brookfield Asset Management, Stonepeak and French gas supplier Air Liquide for the final bidding round for South Korean industrial gas firm DIG Airgas, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
Binding bids for South Korea’s third largest industrial gas producer are expected to come in around the end of July or early August, the sources said, declining to be named as the information is confidential.
Macquarie has hired Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to run the sale, which could fetch up to $3.6 billion, Reuters reported in June.
Macquarie, Air Liquide, Brookfield, Stonepeak, Goldman and JPMorgan declined to comment.
If successful, the deal would be the largest investment in South Korea for Brookfield or Stonepeak, both of which have a heavy focus on the infrastructure sector.
Brookfield in 2022 acquired SK Airplus, a gas production facility supplying SK Hynix, the world’s second largest memory semiconductor manufacturer.
New York-based Stonepeak does not have an industrial gases portfolio in Asia, its website shows.
Paris-based Air Liquide has been in South Korea since 1996, supplying gases to a wide range of industries, including chemical, construction, food and beverage, medical, petrochemical, and refineries, its website says.
Seoul-headquartered DIG Airgas has about $170 million to $180 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA), and Macquarie expects a sale to value the firm at 18-20 times core earnings, a source has told Reuters previously.
Established in 1979, DIG Airgas produces industrial gases, electronic gases and gas equipment, according to its website.
Macquarie bought the company, formerly known as Dausung Industrial Gases, from South Korean private equity firm MBK Partners for 2.5 trillion won ($1.85 billion) in 2019, local media reported at the time.
(Reporting by Kane Wu and Yantoultra Ngui. Editing by Mark Potter)
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