LIG Nex1, the flagship company of South Korean conglomerate LIG Group, has acquired a 60% stake worth 332 billion won ($240 million) in Ghost Robotics, a U.S. maker of four-legged robots.
The deal, completed on Saturday, valued Ghost Robotics at about $400 million, according to a LIG Nex1 filing to the Korean stock exchange on Monday. About 60% of the transaction was funded by LIG Nex1, with the rest by Korea Investment Private Equity, whose portfolio companies include SK On, the electric vehicle battery maker controlled by billionaire Chey Tae-won’s SK Group, and billionaire Lee Dong-chae’s chemicals group EcoPro.
Founded in 2015, Philadelphia-based Ghost Robotics is a spinoff of the University of Pennsylvania which develops four-legged robot “dogs” for defense and enterprise applications. The company’s flagship product is a quadruped robot that it touts can operate in all types of terrain, including sand, rocks and hills, for tasks such as scouting for threats and disaster relief. Ghost Robotics said its products have been deployed by military and government agencies in countries including Australia, Germany, Israel, Singapore, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S.
LIG Nex1’s investment in Ghost Robotics marks “a major turning point” for the Korean company given the growing focus on unmanned, digital and automation technologies in the military field, Shinhan Securities analyst Lee Dong-heon wrote in a note in December, when LIG Nex1 first announced the acquisition. Lee added that the investment came amid inflation-induced wage hikes and workers’ reluctance to perform dirty, difficult and dangerous tasks, which helped boost the growth of the robotics industry.
LIG Nex1 is the defense arm of LIG Group, which spun off from LG in 1999. LIG Group is chaired by Koo Bon-sang, a distant cousin of billionaire Koo Kwang-mo, chairman of LG. Koo Bon-sang’s grandfather, Koo Chul-hwoi, founded LIG Group and is a younger brother of LG Group founder Koo In-hwoi.
LIG Nex1 is the latest Korean company to venture into the robotics space amid labor shortages due to record-low birth rates in South Korea—the world’s fastest-aging country. Last year, Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of Korean wealthiest person Jay Y. Lee’s Samsung Group, spent about 90 billion won for a nearly 15% stake in local robotics company Rainbow Robotics. Meanwhile, billionaire Euisun Chung’s Hyundai Motor in 2021 acquired a 80% stake in U.S. robotics company Boston Dynamics for about $880 million from SoftBank Group, leaving the Japanese investment giant a 20% ownership.
Boston Dynamics, which also manufactures quadruped robots, has filed lawsuits against Ghost Robotics for alleged infringement of multiple patents. Ghost Robotics has called the legal action “obstructive and baseless,” adding that it was “an attempt to halt the newcomer’s progress.”
Read the full article here
