This article was published on Nov. 7, 2025, at 5:28 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site.
EQT Partners, a private equity firm affiliated with Sweden's Wallenberg family, has drawn attention for continuing an aggressive push since the start of the year. This year, MBK Partners, which mainly led trillion-won-scale big deals in the domestic market, effectively paused new buyouts (acquiring control and later selling) and investment activities, allowing global private equity firms to make strides, among which EQT's activity stood out in particular.
According to investment banking industry sources on the 7th, EQT Partners recently agreed to acquire 37.6% of the controlling equity (voting rights basis) of Korea's top enterprise resource planning (ERP) company DOUZONE BIZON CO. for 1.3 trillion won. EQT had been selected as the preferred bidder after a fierce contest with four other candidates since July, and ultimately completed the deal without carrying it into the new year.
The DOUZONE BIZON CO. acquisition was directly led by EQT Partners Korea head Yeon Da-ye. Yeon, a former Baring Private Equity Asia executive, leads EQT's Korea private equity operations after Baring's merger with EQT.
Earlier, EQT acquired business card management app Remember for about 500 billion won in August. It was reportedly because it rated the growth potential of the domestic human resources (HR) market highly. Prior to acquiring Remember, EQT had invested sequentially in HR-related firms such as Japan's HR Brain, the U.K.'s Beamery, the U.S.'s Handshake and Australia's PageUp.
In addition, following last year's acquisition of recycling platform company KJ Environment for about 1 trillion won, EQT has continued bolt-on deals (acquiring similar companies to seek synergies and merge) since early this year. It absorbed recyclables collection and transport firm JS Resources, Incheon International Airport waste treatment company Gyeongin Eco, and the recycling business division of Daeyoung Enterprise in succession.
EQT is also carrying out exit (investment recovery) operations. It is reported to have begun selling the management rights of AQuon Capital and AQuon Savings Bank. It appointed Citi Global Markets Securities and UBS as sale advisors. The asking price is said to be around 1 trillion won.
This year's largest refinancing also came from EQT: the 3.3 trillion won refinancing of SK shieldus. Through this, it simplified the borrowing structure and lowered interest rates that had exceeded 7% to the 5% range, cutting about 55 billion won in annual interest expense.
Meanwhile, EQT is continuing legal battles. It is in dispute at the Seoul High Court with chairman Shin Chang-jae over a put option related to Kyobo Life Insurance after failing to reach a compromise.
In 2012, EQT, together with Affinity Equity Partners, GIC and IMM Private Equity, acquired a 24% stake in Kyobo Life Insurance at 245,000 won per share and was granted a put option to resell the shares to Chairman Shin. However, a dispute began when Shin and the financial investors (FIs) failed to agree on the put option price, and unlike other investors who sold stakes at 200,000–230,000 won per share, EQT and IMM are still pursuing legal action.
EQT is a global private equity firm headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1994 centered on Investor AB, an investment company of the Wallenberg family, and the Wallenbergs remain major shareholders. It is the largest in Europe and ranks among the world's five largest managers. As of the end of September this year, assets under management (AUM) were about 267 billion euros (about 450 trillion won).