This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:34 p.m. on Mar. 30, 2026.
Domestic contact lens company PPB Studios has been put up for sale. Private equity fund (PEF) manager KL&Partners is pushing to acquire it, and the corporate value is said to be in the 150 billion–200 billion won range.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 30th, KL&Partners is conducting due diligence to acquire PPB Studios.
PPB Studios plans and operates contact lens brands. It was founded in Dec. 2011 and is operating subsidiaries and partner corporations in Korea, the United States, Hong Kong, China, Japan, and Taiwan. It uses an online D2C (a method in which a brand sells products directly to consumers through its own online mall without going through intermediate distribution) channel and directly manages local distribution networks.
PPB Studios' flagship brand is "Hapa Kristin," which hired Jang Won-young, a member of the girl group "Ive," as its advertising model. It also owns brands such as "Chuu" and "Gemhour." The company said it is growing rapidly, with sales in Japan in the third quarter of last year doubling from a year earlier.
The market estimates PPB Studios' corporate value at about 150 billion–200 billion won. For peer corporations Interojo, the price-to-sales ratio (PSR) calculated based on last year's sales (118.4 billion won) and its current market capitalization (about 220 billion won) is about 1.8 times. Applying that to PPB Studios' estimated sales last year (60 billion–70 billion won) and adding a 30% control premium yields about 140 billion–170 billion won.
The market expects that if KL&Partners buys PPB Studios this time, it could seek synergies with K-beauty company Manyo Factory, which it acquired last year.
KL&Partners acquired a 51.87% controlling equity stake in Manyo Factory for 190 billion won in May last year. That put the overall corporate value at about 370 billion won. Manyo Factory is similar to PPB Studios in that it, too, is growing rapidly overseas, especially in Japan. Sixty percent of Manyo Factory's total sales come from overseas, and about 60% of that is from Japan.
However, some in the industry say legal risks surrounding PPB Studios have not been fully resolved and could act as uncertainty in the transfer of control.
PPB Studios, through its subsidiary Wink Company, is providing a service that allows customers to reserve and purchase contact lenses online. Starvision, the No. 1 contact lens company in Korea, and the Korean Optometric Association filed a complaint with prosecutors in Feb. last year against Lee Seung-jun, the head of Wink Company, alleging a violation of the Medical Technicians Act.
The case was dismissed without indictment by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office. However, Starvision and the opticians' association filed an appeal with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 23rd of last month, and it has been confirmed that the Inspection Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office is re-examining the case.
PPB Studios believes the likelihood is very low that a case dismissed without indictment consecutively by the Central District and High Prosecutors' Offices will be overturned by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. In contrast, Starvision and the opticians' association are placing weight on the possibility of a reversal at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, citing concerns raised by some in the National Assembly.