Keistone Partners acquires e-commerce logistics firm GoodsFlow from SK Energy

Keistone Partners has acquired GoodsFlow Co., an e-commerce logistics service provider, from oil refiner SK Energy Co. in a deal valued at around 50 billion won ($36 million), according to investment banking sources on Friday.

The South Korean private equity firm expects the acquisition to vertically integrate the e-commerce logistics operations of Pimz, an IT solution company it took over in 2023. 

Under the latest deal, completed on July 31, Keistone has secured a 75% stake in GoodsFlow, with the remainder held by Pimz’s founder and related stakeholders.

GoodsFlow provides end-to-end tracking across the entire delivery process from online order placement to last-mile delivery.

Through its order management system, Pimz consolidates customer orders and checks inventory levels, while tracking product locations within warehouses and issuing shipment instructions.

In 2023, SK Energy, a unit of SK Innovation Co., acquired the entire stake of GoodsFlow for about 80 billion won.

SK Energy had sought to leverage GoodsFlow as a stepping stone to expand its micro-fulfillment center business in urban areas and transform into a logistics platform.

However, its plan to convert its major gas stations in Seoul into logistics hubs has stalled and the anticipated synergy with GoodsFlow has failed to materialize.

The divestment of GoodsFlow is part of SK Innovation’s non-core asset sales.

SK Energy makes up half of SK Innovation’s consolidated sales. In the second quarter of this year, SK Energy posted an operating loss of 466.3 billion won.

Write to Da-Eun Choi at max@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.