This article appeared on ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) at 1:25 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2025.
STIC Investments' credit unit will become the second-largest shareholder of contact lens maker Interojo. Interojo's largest shareholder had been negotiating to sell part of its equity to Ascent Private Equity (PE), but talks fell through, and instead STIC Credit will step in as an investor to help resolve the major shareholder's funding difficulties.
According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on the 17th, STIC Credit recently agreed to invest about 60 billion won in Interojo and is discussing the terms. The plan is to invest through mezzanine instruments such as convertible bonds (CBs) and secure second-largest shareholder equity. However, specific investment methods and the equity ratio have not been finalized.
Interojo is the second-largest seller by revenue in the domestic contact lens market. It is well known for the lens brand Claren. It was founded in 2000 by Chairman Noh Si-chul and generates nearly 120 billion won in annual sales.
Interojo previously disclosed on the 13th of last month that it planned to sell 16% of the largest shareholder's equity to a "third-party investor." The plan was to sell 16% of the 33.67% held by Chairman Noh and the owner family, leaving 17.79%. The Noh family initially sought to sell part of their equity for 68.6 billion won and then arrange the remaining equity while transferring management rights.
However, Interojo abruptly filed a withdrawal disclosure on the 10th of this month. It said the reason for the withdrawal was "the counterparty's withdrawal request."
According to IB industry sources, the party that originally planned to acquire the Noh family's equity was the private equity firm Ascent Private Equity (PE). Ascent PE is a different company from Ascent Equity Partners (EP), which recently partnered with Shinsegae to acquire C&C International.
Ascent PE planned to raise funds through a project fund without a blind fund. But the conditions demanded by the project fund investors (LPs) and the terms required by seller Chairman Noh's side did not match, and negotiations between the two sides ultimately broke down.
Industry sources say Ascent PE's LPs wanted a secured loan backed by the Noh family's management stake and the issuance of exchangeable bonds (EBs) based on Interojo's treasury shares. However, Interojo signed a trust agreement to acquire treasury shares in July, and because of the Capital Markets Act prohibiting disposal of treasury shares for six months after the trust agreement, it was unable to accept such conditions.
When negotiations with Ascent PE fell through, Chairman Noh's side selected STIC Credit as the new preferred negotiating partner. STIC Credit recently raised a 500 billion won blind fund and has ample cash on hand.
STIC Credit is expected to support funds through mezzanine financing without acquiring Interojo's management rights to help resolve the funding shortage. Chairman Noh is expected to use STIC Credit's investment to first repay the existing secured stock loan of 48 billion won and the 10 billion won invested via EB from Shinhan Investment Corp.