This article was published on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 10:19 a.m. on Apr. 02, 2026.
As the acquisition of DOUZONE BIZON CO. by global private equity fund (PEF) manager EQT Partners moves into its final stage, founder Chairman Kim Yong-woo is pursuing a plan to buy back DOUZONE BIZON CO.'s Japan subsidiary, Genolab. The move is seen as a plan to launch a "second founding" in Japan, based on a favorable view of growth in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market there.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 2nd, Chairman Kim is conducting financial and legal reviews to acquire Genolab, the Japan subsidiary of DOUZONE BIZON CO.
Genolab is a wholly owned subsidiary of DOUZONE BIZON CO., established in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, in 2024. It has yet to turn a profit, logging a net loss of 1.8 billion won last year.
EQT signed a stock purchase agreement (SPA) in Nov. last year to acquire management control of DOUZONE BIZON CO. It agreed to acquire 37.6% in existing shares by combining Chairman Kim's 23.2% equity and 14.4% held by Shinhan Financial Group affiliates, and to delist voluntarily by tendering for the remaining shares. Having secured more than 90% equity to date, a comprehensive share swap and voluntary delisting are expected soon.
With roughly 800 billion won expected to be secured from this sale of management control of DOUZONE BIZON CO., some of the funds are projected to go toward acquiring Genolab.
Chairman Kim stepped down as CEO of DOUZONE BIZON CO. on the 26th of last month but remains CEO of Genolab. At the same time, Kim is also serving as an advisor to DOUZONE BIZON CO. and an industry advisor (IA) to EQT.
According to industry officials, Chairman Kim is said to hold a favorable view of growth in Japan's ERP market. Although seal culture and paper documents still dominate in Japan's analog environment, demand for cloud-based ERP solutions is surging as the Digital Agency leads a forceful digital transformation (DX) policy.
In addition, on-premise remains the mainstream in Japan's ERP market, creating many entry opportunities for cloud SaaS-based systems, an area where DOUZONE BIZON CO. has strengths.
Since its establishment in 2021, Japan's Digital Agency has been rapidly building a cloud-based common platform for 12 central government ministries and 1,788 local government agencies. Along with standardizing administrative systems, it operates a "Digital Marketplace (DMP)" to speed up SaaS procurement, opening even the public procurement market to verified cloud ERP solution providers.
An industry official said, "Because Japan was late to digital transformation, the penetration rate of cloud ERP can instead rise steeply from now on," adding, "From Chairman Kim's perspective, even if the main DOUZONE BIZON CO. is sold, the Japan unit could be separated and grown directly."
In response, DOUZONE BIZON CO. said, "(Chairman Kim) is not buying back Genolab, and a joint equity investment with EQT is under consideration if acquiring a local company in Japan."