This article was published on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 5:50 p.m. on Nov. 18, 2025.
The sale process for management control of IGIS Asset Management, Korea's No. 1 real estate asset manager, is ongoing, and existing shareholders have reaffirmed their intention to complete the transaction within the year, sources said.
There were differences between seller CEO Cho Gap-joo and bidders over whether to include affiliates in the sale, but Cho's side agreed to meet the bidders' conditions and is negotiating, so it is believed unlikely to affect whether the transaction is completed.
On the 18th, sources in the investment banking industry said that shareholders, including majority shareholder Son Hwa-ja (12.4%) and CEO Cho (including family company holdings, 11.89%), are negotiating with bidders for an all-out sale of 98% of the equity. Hanwha Life, Heungkuk Life, and Hillhouse Investment are the three bidders taking part in the final bid.
The sellers plan to select a preferred bidder this month and sign a stock purchase agreement (SPA) next month. They then plan to begin communication with financial authorities to seek approval for the change of the largest shareholder. They say they will complete the sale quickly, reportedly because of health issues affecting largest shareholder Son.
The three candidates are believed to have offered around 1 trillion won each. However, sources said that selection of the preferred bidder is taking time due to issues other than corporate value.
An investment banking industry official said, "The key issue is Cho Gap-joo's noncompete clause, rather than who bid how much," and added, "Bidders are worried that after Cho sells his stake in IGIS Asset Management, he may go on to run a competing firm." He added, "But because Cho has managed IGIS Asset Management without being the largest shareholder, it is questionable whether a noncompete clause can be applied in this case."
Cho's noncompete issue is tied to whether three IGIS Asset Management affiliates will be sold. According to industry sources, Cho's side initially decided to exclude three affiliates—Igis X Asset Management, IGIS Investment Partners, and IGIS Asia—from the sale. Even if an all-out sale is made now, Cho's side had said it would re-acquire the three affiliates.
Cho's side said it wanted to exclude IGIS X Asset Management from the sale because its licensing unit overlaps with IGIS Asset Management. IGIS Asia was not to be sold because bidders' business portfolios and overseas expansion status suggested potential overlap with their existing businesses.
However, it is reported that Cho's side soon withdrew those sale conditions. Some bidders said they would not participate in the acquisition if the three affiliates could not be bought together, and Cho's side accepted that.
An investment banking industry official said, "If Cho were to buy back IGIS X and operate it, it could violate the noncompete clause," and added, "Of course it should be included in the sale."
Some in the industry argued that IGIS Asset Management without the three affiliates such as IGIS X Asset Management would be merely a shell, but others noted that those three companies ran losses, so that view is questionable. IGIS X Asset Management, IGIS Investment Partners, and IGIS Asia recorded operating losses of 1.1 billion won, 26 billion won, and 370 million won, respectively, in the first to third quarters of this year.
An industry official said, "There were differences between the two parties, but those issues will not derail the deal."