South Korean consortium to acquire UCO, tallow supplier

South Korean conglomerate SK Innovation's trading arm, SK Trading International will embark on a takeover of the country's largest waste-based feedstock supplier Daekyung O&T.

SK Trading International will take over the supplier together with the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Eugene Private Equity through a consortium, SK Innovation said. SK Trading International will own 40pc of Daekyung while KDB and Eugene will collectively control the remaining 60pc. Other terms of the shareholding structure have not been disclosed.

Daekyung O&T supplies feedstock such as tallow and used cooking oil (UCO) from restaurants and food factories for biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production.

The firm supplies approximately 60-70pc of tallow and 40-50pc of UCO found in the country and can supply around 200,000 t/yr of waste feedstock, market participants said.

South Korea produces an estimated 250,000-280,000 t/yr of tallow and 180,000-200,000 t/yr of UCO, market participants said.

SK Trading International, through the investment, seeks to secure waste feedstock such as UCO, tallow and palm oil mill effluent (Pome) oil for SAF production, the firm said.

The company also invested in Sichuan Jinshang Environmental Technology, a Chinese UCO company, in March this year.

By Ryan Ang