This article was published on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 11:04 a.m. on Sep. 22, 2025.
EQT Partners, a Sweden-based Wallenberg family private equity firm, has offered 120,000 won per share to acquire control of Douzone Bizon, sources confirmed. That implies a control premium of more than 100% compared with early May, before sale rumors intensified. EQT Partners and the largest shareholder are expected to sign a share purchase agreement (SPA) as early as the end of this month.
According to investment banking industry sources on the 22nd, EQT Partners is continuing negotiations with Douzone Bizon Chairman Kim Yong-woo, the company's largest shareholder, over the sale of control. The sale target is a total of 31.4%, including Chairman Kim's 21.5% stake and the 9.9% stake held by Shinhan Investment Corp. through a special purpose company (SPC) called Shinhan Value-Up First.
Chairman Kim had reportedly been seeking a valuation of about 4 trillion won based on market capitalization. Accepting EQT Partners' offer of 120,000 won per share would result in a sale at about 3.6 trillion won market capitalization. The chairman's side has shown a willingness to agree on price, suggesting progress in the control sale. As of 11 a.m. that day, Douzone Bizon's share price was 86,500 won.
The price EQT Partners proposed is near Douzone Bizon's all-time high. During the abundant liquidity of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company's stock climbed to a closing price of 126,500 won in Sep. 2020. The share price later fell into the 20,000-won range amid the end of the pandemic and weak performance. After Douzone Bizon's push to establish an internet bank, the price recovered to 70,000 won, but it fell back to the 50,000-won range after the business was withdrawn.
After this stake sale, Chairman Kim is reportedly planning to completely step away from management and not reinvest in Douzone Bizon. While a largest shareholder who sells the company they founded to a private equity firm sometimes re-invests part of the sale proceeds into an SPC set up by the PE firm to assist management, Chairman Kim is said to have little intention of doing so.
EQT Partners is likely to use an Asia blind fund of about 20 trillion won that is to be raised soon as acquisition financing. For acquisition financing, it is in talks with NH Investment & Securities and Korea Investment & Securities. Industry sources say that because NH Investment & Securities is participating in acquisition financing, a tender offer for Douzone Bizon's remaining equity is also possible.
Following its acquisition of HR solution Remember & Company, EQT Partners plans to acquire Douzone Bizon as well to gain leadership in Korea's business process outsourcing (BPO) market. BPO refers to outsourcing core tasks such as procurement, human resources and accounting to specialized external firms. Douzone Bizon is the No. 2 operator in corporate accounting processing, and Remember & Company is also expanding its business into human resources and recruitment.
Founded in 1977, Douzone Bizon is a leading information and communications technology (ICT) company in Korea that provides corporate informatization solutions and cloud services, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and accounting and tax software. More than 60% of its revenue comes from the ERP sector. Last year, revenue was 402.3 billion won and operating income was 88 billion won.