EQT Sells Aequitas Group to Hanwha Life Insurance·Centroid PE Consortium

Acquisition Price Reported to Be in the Upper 800 Billion Won Range

Global private equity firm EQT is selling Aequitas Capital and Aequitas Savings Bank to a consortium comprising Hanwha Life Insurance and Centroid Private Equity. The acquisition price is reported to be in the upper 800 billion won range.

On September 30, EQT announced that it has signed a stock purchase agreement (SPA) with the Hanwha Life Insurance·Centroid PE consortium for the acquisition of the Aequitas Group. The transaction will be finalized following regulatory approval and other closing procedures. UBS, Citigroup, and the law firm Shin & Kim served as sell-side advisors for EQT.

Aequitas Capital is considered Korea’s largest independent capital company, while Aequitas Savings Bank ranks fifth among domestic savings banks based on total loan assets. The combined total assets of the two companies amount to 10 trillion won.

EQT, which invested in Aequitas in 2019, strengthened corporate governance, modernized the company’s core digital infrastructure, and advanced its screening and risk management capabilities. In particular, its digital transformation is credited with significantly enhancing business competitiveness. Aequitas Savings Bank has implemented a modern Java-based core banking system—one of only three savings banks in Korea to operate such a platform. The number of subscribers to its mobile application has surpassed 1 million. The entire consumer loan process has been fully digitized, and by introducing a data- and artificial intelligence (AI)-based credit scoring system (CSS) and automation systems, loan processing time has been reduced from 36 hours to under 5 minutes.

Yeon Daye, Country Head of EQT Private Capital Korea, stated, "Our partnership with Aequitas demonstrates EQT’s philosophy of making focused investments in technology and systems capabilities that drive long-term growth."

Lee Jungmu, CEO of Aequitas Capital, said, "Over the past several years, Aequitas has strengthened its business competitiveness and built an agile, customer-centric platform with the support of EQT. We are proud of the achievements we have made together, and moving forward, we will deliver even greater customer value through improved financial services in partnership with our new owners."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.