Our Venture Partners, which invested in the K-beauty company d'Alba Global, known for 'Mist for Crew,' is nearing an exit (return on investment) after about six years. This is because the company's valuation, which was 14 billion won at the time of the first investment in 2019, has soared to around 500 billion won. d'Alba Global recently cleared the preliminary listing examination by the Korea Exchange.
According to the financial investment industry on the 31st, d'Alba Global, the operator of the brand 'd'Alba,' received approval for its preliminary listing examination from the exchange on the 23rd. This was about two months after applying for the examination in November last year. It is expected to begin the official public offering process in February.
d'Alba Global was established in March 2016 by CEO Ban Sung-yeon, a former consultant who handled business strategy consulting for cosmetics corporations. The 'Mist Serum,' famous for being widely used by crew members in dry cabins, is its flagship product. The company recorded sales of 200 billion won and an operating profit of 34.5 billion won in 2023, gaining popularity overseas, including the United States.
After its listing, d'Alba Global's market capitalization is estimated to exceed 500 billion won. The price-earnings ratio (PER) of cosmetics corporations listed on the domestic stock market is about 25 to 30 times, which, when applied to d'Alba Global's 2023 net profit of 17.8 billion won, suggests a corporate value of around 500 billion won.
There is also speculation about the possibility of a valuation exceeding 600 billion won. Thanks to the global popularity of K-beauty, the cumulative sales from the first to the third quarter of last year reached 213.7 billion won, already surpassing the previous year's annual sales, with an operating profit of 46.4 billion won. There are expectations that annual net profit will exceed 40 billion won.
As a result, Our Venture Partners, which invested in d'Alba Global early on, is set to enjoy a 'great windfall.' Following the 2017 'Terminal High Altitude Area Defense' (THAAD) incident and China's prioritization of domestic brands, K-beauty companies faced a downturn. However, Our Venture Partners discovered and invested in d'Alba Global two years later, in 2019.
At that time, Our Venture Partners invested 2 billion won using the KTBN No. 13 Venture Investment Fund (hereinafter referred to as KTBN No. 13). In November of the same year, another investment of 2 billion won was made. In April last year, they sold some shares to the founder, reducing their equity stake to 13.44%, but they remained the largest shareholder until the end of 2023.
If d'Alba Global lists at a valuation of 500 billion won, Our Venture Partners is expected to achieve a profit of over 35 times through KTBN No. 13 alone. This is because the company's valuation at the time of investment in 2019 was set at 14 billion won based on post-money valuation.
It has been confirmed that Our Venture Partners holds a 2.27% stake in d'Alba Global through the KTBN No. 16 Venture Investment Fund. This equity was secured through additional investment in November 2020, when the company's valuation was still at the level of 50 billion won.
A source in the securities industry noted, 'There was concern that the gap in equity between founder Ban (16.74%) and Our Venture Partners was not large, making it difficult to pass the exchange's thresholds,' adding, 'This signals a green light for Our Venture Partners to recover their investment.'
The return on investment from d'Alba Global is expected to play a significant role for Our Venture Partners. Although the firm did not raise large funds for two consecutive years, it has been reported that they aim to establish a new venture fund exceeding 300 billion won, leveraging recent recovery achievements.