IMM Private Equity (PE), a private equity fund (PEF) manager, has been selected as the preferred bidder to acquire CGBio, a regenerative medicine affiliate whose sale has been led by Yoon Jae-seung, former Daewoong Pharmaceutical chairman and second-generation Oner of the Daewoong group. The sale process, which former Chairman Yoon has pushed forward himself, has entered full-fledged negotiations.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 5th, IMM PE was recently selected as the preferred bidder to acquire CGBio and has begun due diligence. The asset for sale is a 51% equity stake held by A-Hana, CGBio's holding company. The transaction amount is discussed to be around 600 billion won.
A Daewoong official said, "Only the preferred bidder has been selected at this stage, and the due diligence process remains," and added, "The equity ratio and transaction price will be decided through discussions going forward."
This sale is said to have been overseen directly by former Chairman Yoon. He has proceeded without a separate sell-side advisor, holding individual negotiations with medium- and large-sized domestic and overseas financial investors (FIs).
CGBio is a regenerative medicine company focused on biomaterial-based artificial tissue substitutes, such as for bone, skin, and anti-adhesion. Its flagship product, "Novosis," is a bone substitute loaded with bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), developed in Korea in 2017 for the first time, which, when injected into the damaged area during fracture treatment or spinal surgery, induces the differentiation of stem cells into osteocytes and promotes bone formation.
CGBio's largest shareholder is Bluenet, a family company of the Daewoong Oner family, which holds a 55.84% equity stake. As of 2018, Bluenet's equity was split mainly among Yoon Jae-seung, CVO (53.08%), spouse Hong Ji-suk (10.35%), and eldest son Yoon Seok-min (6.56%).
The industry is also paying attention to the recent restructuring of the group's internal governance. Last month, CGBio executed a physical split to keep "A-Hana" as the surviving entity and reorganized under it three new subsidiaries: CGBio, Editera, and Novamedtech.
The company explained it as a "measure to enhance management efficiency," but the market sees it as a restructuring with a sale in mind. By grouping the major business affiliates under CGBio, it created a structure favorable for corporate valuation and sale negotiations.
CG MedTech, a KOSDAQ-listed company acquired by CGBio in Feb. 2024, was also incorporated under CGBio during this reorganization. As a result, the equity structure was simplified to "A-Hana–CGBio–CG MedTech." CG MedTech is a corporations that produces implant components for spinal surgery.
A Daewoong representative explained, "From a management efficiency standpoint, we created a holding company structure by physically splitting the core business divisions and new business parts," adding, "Major affiliates, including CG MedTech, were placed under CGBio in consideration of synergy."
The market is also focused on where the proceeds from this sale will be used. Under the current governance, if the sale is completed, the cash secured will flow into the Oner's personal control area rather than the group. The industry sees a possibility that the funds could be used for governance restructuring, such as increasing Daewoong holding company equity or adjusting equity structures in affiliates. There is also speculation that, in the long term, it could serve as resources tied to succession.
In addition, the potential acquisition of a digital healthcare corporations being reviewed by Daewoong Pharmaceutical is being discussed. According to the industry, Yoon, the CVO's eldest son, Yoon Seok-min, is known to be participating in this process. Yoon is the Head of Team for the blood sugar management healthcare business "Wellda" at MCircle, where the CVO Yoon is the largest shareholder.