Eugene PE, KDB PE to acquire Boryung Biopharma for $231 million

The deal follows Boryung’s three failed attempts to sell it to Dongwon Industries, Fine Asset Management and then KL Partners

Jong-Kwan Park 2

2024-06-27 20:22:26 pjk@hankyung.com

Mergers & Acquisitions

A consortium of Eugene Private Equity and Korea Development Bank Private Equity will acquire 80% of South Korean vaccine maker Boryung Biopharma Co. for 320 billion won ($231 million).

According to investment banking sources on Thursday, the Eugene PE-KDB PE consortium will sign a share purchase and sale agreement with Boryung Corp., a healthcare investment company, on Friday.

The two sides aim to conclude the transaction by the end of July, people familiar with the matter said.

Established in 1991, Boryung Biopharma is a vaccine and novel drug developer. The company developed Korea’s first oral typhoid vaccine Zerotyph Cap.

It owns the largest number of Korea’s National Immunization Program (NIP) vaccines.

Boryung Biopharma's typhoid vaccine Zerotyph (Courtesy of Boryung Biopharma)

The biopharmaceutical firm’s largest shareholder is Boryung Partners with a 69.1% stake. Boryung Partners is a private company owned by Chief Executive Kim Jung-gyun, the grandson of Boryung Group founder Kim Seung-ho and the son of Boryung Executive Director Kim Eun-seon.

Boryung originally planned to sell 100% of the biopharma, including the stake held by strategic investors, including Shinhan Securities Co. and Mirae Asset Securities Co., but changed its plan and decided to retain a 20% stake to seek a business collaboration with the Eugene PE-KDB PE consortium, sources said.

FOURTH BID

Boryung has been pursuing a stake sale since last year to raise funds for new growth drivers, including the space business and to help finance CEO Kim’s bid to tighten control over the Boryung Group.

Kim Jung-gyun, CEO of Boryung Partners, Boryung Holdings and Boryung Corp.

Kim, who also heads the group’s holding firm, wants to use the proceeds to increase his stake in Boryung Holdings to become its largest shareholder.

Boryung’s likely deal with the Eugene PE-KDB PE consortium comes after three failed attempts.

In February 2023, Dongwon Industries Co., Korea’s No. 1 canned tuna producer, was named the preferred bidder for Boryung Biopharma. However, Dongwon dropped the bid due to differences over the sales price one month later.

In June last year, Fine Asset Management Corp. was selected as the preferred bidder for the Boryung Biopharma acquisition but withdrew its bid soon after.

Last September, KL Partners was named the top contender but lost its qualification for the bid in November.

Write to Jong-Kwan Park at pjk@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.