[FlowTracer] Apollo Korea 3 Cases KRW 3.601 Trillion... The Weight of PE Capital that Entered Korea

The process of a global PE building up a trillion-won buyout in Korea was left intact in three lines of public disclosure. Apollo Global Management's Korean entity Apollo Korea executed only three direct investments from December 2024 to November 2025, and the total is KRW 3.601 trillion.

This corresponds to approximately 21.3% of the total direct investment of KRW 16.8795 trillion during the same period. All three cases were directed to Grand Opus Holdings, which was established to acquire the management rights of Osstem Implant. The slope of the amount relative to the number of cases encapsulates the nature of this transaction group.

11 Months from Initial Investment to the Main Transaction

Apollo Korea first injected KRW 279.9 billion into Grand Opus Holdings in December 2024. About four months later, it made an additional investment of KRW 63 million, and in November 2025, it executed KRW 3.321 trillion, concluding the transaction.

It was 11 months between the initial capital injection and the main transaction. It is a structure with a single small-scale investment sandwiched in between. The buyout method of gradually accumulating funds to lead to the acquisition of management rights is revealed just by the numbers.

The Gap with 2nd Place Exceeds 7 Times

When summing the amounts based on investors who executed transactions of KRW 50 billion or more, Apollo Korea ranks first. The difference with the 2nd place, T&J Investment (2 cases, KRW 494.8 billion), exceeds 7 times, and the gap with the 3rd place, Kakao Investment (1 case, KRW 330 billion), widens by more than 10 times.

Among the Top Ranks, Apollo was the Only Pure FI

The top ranks of direct investments are mostly filled with strategic investments by affiliates of large conglomerates. Examples include Hanwha's Ourhome with KRW 869.5 billion, Amorepacific's COSRX with KRW 755.1 billion, and SK E&S's city gas with KRW 746 billion. At the same level, Apollo Korea is virtually the only pure financial investor.

The fact that a buyout, which is easy to hide in overseas SPVs or unlisted deals, was left intact in domestic public disclosures provides a rare opportunity to gauge the presence of global PEs in the Korean market. This transaction itself shows that the Korean capital market is a target for large-scale global funds.

*Amounts and ratios are based on the Flow Tracer DB, and direct investment is the sum of disclosed amounts for the acquisition of shares in other corporations.

This article was written based on Flow Tracer, created by News Epoch to track capital flows in the Korean VC/PE market.