As SpaceX's Nasdaq listing draws growing attention to the global space industry, Boryung's space investment assets, into which it invested early, increased by 9.3 billion won in just one quarter, surpassing the 100 billion won range.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 5th, in the first quarter of this year (January–March), the book value of Boryung's major space-related investment assets increased by a total of 9.36726 billion won in just one quarter. However, this is an unrealized gain from a book valuation, not actually recovered revenue.
Compared with the previous quarter (the fourth quarter of last year), the book value of Axiom Space, a U.S. private space station corporations and Boryung's largest investment destination, increased by about 3.8 billion won, from 69.63986 billion won to 73.44969 billion won.
The investment valuation of the lunar exploration corporations Intuitive Machines, Inc. rose by about 4.5 billion won over the same period, from 22.17945 billion won to 26.75114 billion won. The space and deep tech investment fund "Aurelia Fund (Aurelia Foundry I, L.P.)" also climbed from about 2.3 billion won to 3.3 billion won.
The total valuation of these assets rose from 94.1337 billion won at the end of the previous quarter to 103.5095 billion won at the end of the current quarter. This change is seen as reflecting the share price trends of global space-related corporations, exchange rate effects, and the quarter-end fair value assessment.
◇ Third-generation Oner chose "space healthcare" 4 years ago
Boryung's investment in the space business gathered momentum in 2022 under the leadership of CEO Kim Jeong-gyun.
Kim, the son of Boryung Holdings Chair Kim Eun-seon and the grandson of Boryung founder Honorary Chair Kim Seung-ho, has served as Boryung's board chair and CEO since 2022.
In 2022, the company entered the "space healthcare" business by investing about $50 million (about 64.2 billion won at the exchange rate at the time) in U.S.-based Axiom Space. It has since expanded its related portfolio through additional investments.
In Korea's pharmaceutical industry, investing in the disparate field of space was highly unusual. Kim saw space as a new market. In particular, he focused on drug development in the space environment. The aim is to overcome the limits of difficult research on Earth—such as protein crystallization and DNA nanomaterial assembly—by using the microgravity of space. Boryung is pursuing the "Care in Space (CIS)" project with this perspective.
In an interview with ChosunBiz, Kim said, "In the future, space will become a new living space where people stay," and added, "Our goal is not only to develop new drugs in space but also to build the overall life-support infrastructure."
He noted, "Boryung's space business is not about making new drugs directly, but about providing research and verification infrastructure that supports new drug development," and added, "We will build a global healthcare experiment ecosystem based on private space stations." He also said, "We are making preemptive investments with a view to space tourism and an era of permanent space habitation 20 to 30 years from now, rather than short-term revenue."
◇ "Reassessment after SpaceX"… Expectations for growth in the space industry
Still, some in the market, including certain shareholders, had a skeptical view of Boryung's space investments.
Inside and outside the company, there was criticism that resources that should focus on the existing pharmaceutical business were being spread to the new space business, where the possibility of realizing revenue is relatively uncertain. Underlying this was concern that new drug development capabilities could be diluted by space investments.
However, as expectations for investment across the space industry have expanded again following SpaceX's Nasdaq listing, Boryung's preemptive investment strategy in the space business is drawing renewed attention.
As the construction of private space infrastructure accelerates, the valuations of early-stage corporations have become more volatile. Accordingly, the book value of Boryung's space investment asset has also seen wider swings.
However, it is expected to take time until Boryung's actual cash exit. With the exception of Intuitive Machines, a Nasdaq-listed company, most of the investment asset consists of equity in unlisted corporations or private equity funds, so book value fluctuations occur each quarter depending on fair value assessments.
◇ Upgrading the core pharmaceutical business… Expanding oncology and CDMO
Meanwhile, Boryung is also upgrading its strategy in its core pharmaceutical business.
While maintaining a stable growth base with key products, including antihypertensive treatments, it is expanding into oncology and global contract development and manufacturing (CDMO). In the first quarter, the company posted revenue of 255.4 billion won and operating profit of 20.2 billion won, up 6.2% and 84.7%, respectively, from a year earlier.
In particular, it drew industry attention with its LBA (Legacy Brands Acquisition) strategy of acquiring original oncology brands previously held by global pharmaceutical company Sanofi and directly manufacturing and selling them.
In September 2024, Boryung signed an agreement with Sanofi to acquire global businesses for oncology drugs including "Taxotere," and last month it closed the transaction and began global sales.
LBA is a model in which global original pharmaceuticals whose patents have expired or entered maturity are acquired, and the business is expanded based on existing brand recognition and market share. Through this, Boryung secured a major portfolio of original oncology drugs, including "Taxotere (docetaxel)," "Gemzar (gemcitabine)," and "Alimta (pemetrexed)."