[Korea Credit Guarantee Fund]
[Korea Credit Guarantee Fund]

iM Bank to cut guarantee fees by 0.7 percentage points for 2 years

Support targets acquirers pursuing business succession, tech innovation

Korea Credit Guarantee Fund supplied 46 billion won in M&A guarantees through late July

The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund has teamed up with iM Bank to provide 14.3 billion won ($10.1 million) in agreement-based guarantees for companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions aimed at business succession and technology innovation.

The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund announced Monday that it had signed an MOU with iM Bank on guarantee fee support for mergers and acquisitions to promote business succession and technology innovation.

Under the agreement, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund will supply 14.3 billion won in guarantee fee-support facilities, drawing on contributions from iM Bank. iM Bank will cover 0.7 percentage points of the guarantee fee for qualifying companies over two years.

Eligible recipients are acquiring companies that meet the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund's technology guarantee requirements and are actively pursuing M&A deals. The guarantees can be applied to working capital and facility financing needed during the acquisition process.

The agreement combines financial support with demand for M&A driven by business succession challenges — such as the absence of a successor — and the need to secure new technologies. The aim is to lower financing costs during M&A transactions and strengthen the acquisition capacity of technology-focused small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund has also signed M&A financial support MOUs this year with Woori Bank, Kyongnam Bank, Hana Bank and Busan Bank. Total M&A guarantees supplied — including agreement-based guarantees — reached 46 billion won through late July.

"We expect this agreement to ease the financial burden on technology companies pursuing M&A and to help facilitate smooth business succession and technology innovation," said Lee Sang-chang, a director at the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund. "We will expand cooperation with financial institutions to help technology innovators secure new growth engines through M&A."


hong@heraldcorp.com