사모펀드가 인수한 기업의 이익조정에 관한 사례연구: MBK 파트너스가 소유한 코웨이의 리스계약 변경

Abstract

코웨이는 정수기와 매트리스 등을 렌탈하는, 우리나라 렌탈산업을 대표하는 상장기업이다. 사모펀드 MBK 파트너스는 2013년 코웨이를 인수한 후 2015년 3분기부터 기존의 운용리스를 금융리스로 변경하였다. 이러한 회계변경으로 매각 직전 연도인 2018년 코웨 이의 법인세⋅이자⋅감가상각비 차감 전 이익(EBITDA)은 최소 360억 원 정도 증가하였다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 회계 변경사례를 통해 사모펀드가 어떤 방식으로 포트폴리오 회사의 수익성을 개선시키는지 살펴보았다. MBK 파트너스는 코웨이를 인수한 후 1조 원이 넘는 투자차익을 남겼는데 이중 리스 회계변경 효과는 최소 900억 원에 이르는 것으로 추정된다. 코웨이는 동일 렌탈 제품에 대해 의무보유기간을 늘려서 회계기준상 금융리스 조건을 충족했지만, 현금흐름에 영향이 없고 별다른 경제적 동기가 없다는 점에서 이런 회계변경은 대주주인 MBK 파트너스의 매각차익을 높이기 위한 이익조정일 가능성이 크다. 회계변경으로 2015년 3분기 코웨이의 실적은 시장의 예상보다 높게 증가하였는데 이에 대한 재무분석가와 주식시장의 반응을 살펴보았다. 금융리스 변경 후 발표된 10개 증권사 분석가 보고서들은 대부분 코웨이 회계변경 효과를 언급하고 있지 않았다. 또한, 주가 반응을 보면 최초 실적 공표일 후 3일간 1.3∼1.7% 사이의 초과수익률이 있었다. 마지막으로 2019년 코웨이 매각대금 대비 회계이익 비율이 유사 매각 사례보다 낮지 않아서 코웨이 매수자인 웅진 그룹도 회계변경 효과를 감안하지 않았음을 알 수 있다. 따라서 본 사례는 자본시장의 이해관계자들은 기업가치 평가에서 코웨이의 회계변경 효과를 고려하지 못하고 있으며 이런 상황이 사모펀드의 이익조정 동기를 강화시켜준다는 점을 보여준다.

Coway is a leading company in the rental market that introduced the rental concept to water purifiers for the first time in Korea. Since then, Coway has expanded its rental business to mattresses and air purifiers, and is now a listed company that has grown into the largest one among rental companies in Korea. MBK, a PEF (private equity fund), took over Coway in 2013. After that, Coway changed the contract terms for mattress products and changed the accounting method from operating lease to financial lease. We discuss whether Coway’s accounting changes are opportunistic earnings management to maximize the performance of MBK, and examine whether financial analysts and investors reflect these accounting changes in firm value. After acquiring Coway from Woongjin Group in 2013, MBK made more than ₩1.5 trillion in capital gains until 2019. We analyzed that more than half of MBK’s capital gains were due to Coway’s profit increase during the holding period by using the EBITDA Multiple method, which is often used in practice to estimate firm value. We believe that the change in accounting for mattress rental in July 2015 contributed the most to Coway’s profit growth. Coway changed the accounting treatment of mattress rentals, which were provided as operating leases, to financial leases by matching the lease period and economic useful life of the mattress. We estimate that this change in accounting allowed Coway to increase its accounting profit (EBITDA) by ₩36.5 billion, resulting in an additional increase in capital gains by ₩90.6 billion. According to accounting standards, financial lease and operating lease are determined according to the nature of the lease contract. The change to Coway’s financial lease is due to the increase in the contractual lease term, which is in line with the accounting standards. Therefore, this is not a change in accounting policy, but merely a change in accounting treatment to match the substance of the contract. However, considering that MBK was trying to sell Coway at the time of the change and changed the useful life of an existing product to a finance lease abruptly without any clear economic motive, the Coway’s accounting change can be viewed as an opportunistic intervention into financial reporting process and earnings management. Coway’s 3Q 2015 financial performance significantly increased due to this financial lease change. Specifically, Coway’s sales in the third quarter increased by ₩18.2 billion compared to the second quarter of 2015, of which ₩14.8 billion was financial lease sales. Therefore, if Coway had not changed the accounting treatment for finance lease, Coway’s 3Q 2015 performance would not have been much different from 2Q 2015. Regardless of whether or not Coway’s accounting change is regarded as an earnings management, Coway’s accounting change has nothing to do with firm value in that it did not affect cash flow. However, it is questionable whether stakeholders could see through it. From this point of view, we looked at the reactions of stakeholders to the change in Coway lease accounting. First, we checked the response of financial analysts analyzing Coway, a listed company, after the announcement of earnings in the third quarter of 2015, when the accounting change occurred. Of the total 10 financial analyst reports, only 4 reports separately stated the sales effect of accounting changes, and only 1 out of 4 reports stated that the accounting changes did not affect cash flow. Second, the stock market showed a positive reaction to Coway’s earnings announcement in the third quarter of 2005, so similar to the response of financial analysts, it was found that the effect of the accounting change was not properly understood. Finally, we looked at the response of the Woongjin Group, which purchased Coway from MBK in January 2019. Woongjin Group also did not take into account the effect of the financial lease change as it could not find evidence that the purchase price was discounted by the amount corresponding to the improvement in profitability due to the accounting change. In conclusion, Coway was able to increase its earnings in a short period of time by changing its accounting method without affecting cash flow. In addition, stakeholders in the capital market, such as financial analysts, stock investors, and buyers, reflected the earnings surprise without cash flow in the firm value. In this process, MBK, which owns Coway, succeeded in maximizing their compensation by raising Coway’s selling price. As such, our study contributes to the financial accounting research related PEFs by showing the specific earnings management methods used by PEFs and the capital market’s response to their accounting effects. In addition, our study contributes to practitioners and policy makers by showing the importance of lease accounting from a lessor’s point of view in a situation where many companies participate in rental business in Korea.