This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 9:22 a.m. on Aug. 7, 2026.
Hyosung is pushing to expand its beauty business. Aiming to build a global beauty business base, the holding company Hyosung directly decided to invest in the K-beauty commerce corporations 2020. If growth and scalability are confirmed, it is said to have left open the option of bringing the company into the group as an affiliate.
On the 7th, according to the investment banking (IB) industry, Hyosung(004800) recently finalized its plan to participate in 2020's pre-IPO (fundraising before listing) investment round. The investment will be made by acquiring convertible bonds (CB) issued by 2020, with an investment size of 30 billion won and a valuation set at about 200 billion won.
2020 started as a distribution and marketing company that sold Korean brands on global e-commerce platforms such as Amazon in the United States, and grew into a K-beauty specialist commerce corporations. In its early days, it sold not only cosmetics but also apparel and computer solid-state drives (SSD).
At the time, there were many agencies handling Amazon listings in the United States, but 2020 sought differentiation by combining ads and content with search algorithms. By establishing K-beauty brands such as "Gahi," "It's Skin," and "Laneige" in the North American market, it rose to become an "Amazon K-beauty marketing specialist corporations."
Since then, 2020 shifted its business to a "brand accelerator" that discovers and grows early-stage K-beauty brands, rapidly scaling up. Sales, which were 2.7 billion won in 2021, jumped to 85 billion won last year, more than 31 times in four years. Recently, it also introduced its own private label (PB).
Hyosung is said to have given high marks to 2020's ability to discover K-beauty brands and its global distribution capabilities. 2020 has secured about 90 distribution channels in the United States and built a virtuous cycle structure that expands the offline sales outlets of brands proven online.
There is also analysis that Hyosung has put K-beauty distribution using 2020 to the test as a way to secure new growth engines in the trade institutional sector. In fact, Hyosung TNC, which handles Hyosung's trade institutional sector, said early this year it would secure new trade items such as cosmetics in addition to existing steel and chemicals.
Hyosung is understood to have first stepped in with CBs and decided to watch 2020's growth trajectory and the progress of its initial public offering (IPO). The step-by-step scenario is to expand equity through converting CBs into common shares and making additional investments once growth becomes more evident.
It also appears to have targeted the fact that CBs are classified as bonds, not stocks. This allows it to gauge growth potential without an equity burden, while also avoiding restrictions under the Fair Trade Act that prohibit a holding company from owning more than 5% of the total number of outstanding shares in a simple investment.
A Hyosung official said, "It is true that the holding company Hyosung is directly investing in 2020's CBs," adding, "It is part of an investment in new trade business."