In its second investment in South Korea’s SK E&S Co Ltd, global investment major KKR announced that it has acquired the energy company’s newly issued redeemable convertible preferred shares (RCPS) for an undisclosed sum.

The investment extends KKR and SK E&S’s ongoing relationship and follows the PE firm’s acquisition of $ 2 billion worth of RCPS in the company back in November 2021.

In the latest transaction, KKR acquired SK E&S’s newly issued RCPS to help the company’s efforts to become a clean energy solutions provider. SK E&S said it now looks to secure liquidity to de-lever and capture post-pandemic opportunities across the energy and renewable assets.

“We are pleased to extend our collaboration with SK E&S and support its mission-critical diversification into renewable energy solutions both within and outside of Korea,” said Keith Kim, a managing director of KKR’s Infrastructure team.

Established in 1999, SK E&S is a member of the SK Group, one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates. It focuses on overseas gas field development and power generation, district energy, and city gas distribution.

SK E&S has been operating a city gas business that distributes natural gas to customers in cities and rural areas across eight regions in South Korea.

The company develops 2.5GW worth of renewable energy assets and is expanding its portfolio via large-scale investments in companies including Plug Power, Key Capture Energy, and Rev Renewables.

In 2021, SK E&S outlined its goal to become a leading global clean energy solution provider by transitioning its portfolio to focus on hydrogen as well as renewable energy and related solutions.

KKR said the investment, which marks its latest in South Korea and the renewables energy sector, was made through its Asia Pacific infrastructure strategy, which looks to support infrastructure assets and businesses with growth potential across developed and developing Asian markets.

Since 2011, KKR has deployed over $15 billion in equity globally to invest in renewable assets, such as solar and wind, which have an operational power generation capacity of 23 gigawatts as of December 31, 2021.