SK Holdings Co., the holding company of South Korea’s SK Group, received $10 million in dividends from the U.S. oil and gas operator Eureka Midstream Holdings, the company announced on Tuesday.

The company earned the profit just two months after it had invested $100 million in the Texas-based shale gas gathering and processing (G&P) company in early October. It said it expects stable quarterly dividend returns next year.

Eureka Midstream is engaged in natural gas midstream services including gathering and processing. The gathering of natural gas means transporting raw natural gas produced in gas wells through pipelines, and processing means removing impurities and making the gas ready to be consumed by end users.

On top of the latest return, SK Holdings is expected to make more profit from a series of its investments in foreign companies. It has invested more than half of its entire investment worth 1.7 trillion won ($1.6 billion) this year in overseas businesses, including an 11.7 percent stake in the China’s second largest logistics company ESR in July and a 10 percent stake in China’s meat processing company Kerchin Cattle Industry Co. in October. It invested a total of $60 million in two clothing brands - Canada’s Mackage and America’s Alice+Olivia last month.

Backed by not only handsome investment returns but also solid performance of its subsidiaries, outlook for SK Holdings’ earnings for next year is rosy. The epilepsy drug developed by SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the holding firm, will complete its phase 3 clinical trial ahead of application for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) next year. Its another wholly owned subsidiary SK Biotek Co. in June this year bought a manufacturing facility of a multinational drug maker Briostol-Myers Squibb (BMS) located in Swords, Ireland.

As of 11:50 a.m. on Wednesday, shares of SK Holdings rose 1.97 percent to 284,000 won in Seoul trading.

By Kang Doo-soon and Choi Mira

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