This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:13 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2025.
Domestic private equity fund (PEF) manager Centroid Investment Partners (hereafter Centroid) is forming a 400 billion won project fund to invest in Yudo, a plastics injection molding process equipment corporations.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 4th, Centroid has decided to acquire a minority equity in Yudo for 600 billion won and is creating a 400 billion won fund. Since the previous day, it has been conducting on-site due diligence of Yudo's plant in Suzhou, China, together with domestic and overseas limited partners (LPs).
The remaining 200 billion won of the 600 billion won acquisition price will be raised through acquisition financing. The lead manager is NH Investment & Securities.
The acquisition target is the 30% equity in Yudo held by the U.K.-based asset management company ICG. ICG previously invested in Yudo with convertible preferred shares (CPS) in 2017, joining as the second-largest shareholder. The remaining 70% equity is still owned by the founder's family office.
Centroid PE recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Yudo investment and has been pushing to raise funds. Because it does not yet have a blind fund, it must use a project fund and acquisition financing.
Yudo is a hot runner system (HRS) company used for injection molding, one of the plastic manufacturing processes. HRS is a component that plays a key role in the plastic injection process. It controls temperature, pressure, and flow rate when plastic resin flows in liquid form through the channels inside the mold.
Compared with the cold runner method, the hot runner method has the advantage of generating less waste. Thanks to that, there is strong demand across industries such as automobiles, electronics and home appliances, packaging, and medical. The global HRS market is growing 2.8% annually and is expected to maintain a similar pace of growth going forward.
As of last year, Yudo recorded a 13% global market share. It is at the world's No. 1 level. It has 93 sales bases in 40 countries worldwide and 17 production bases.