IMM PE completes sales of Genuone Sciences

[Courtesy of IMM PE]

IMM Private Equity (IMM PE), Korea‘s leading private equity fund (PEF) manager, has completed the sale of Genuone Sciences, the country’s No. 1 chemical drug contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) company. The acquirer is Macquarie Asset Management.

IMM PE signed a stock sale agreement with Macquarie Asset Management on July 16th to sell its 100% stake in Genuone. The enterprise value, including debt, was set at 750 billion Korean Won (approximately US$550 million) and the 100% equity stake value was set at 620 billion Korean Won.

Genuone is a company launched by IMM PE after acquiring Kolmar‘s pharmaceutical division and Kolmar Pharma in 2020. It is a leading CDMO company that provides chemical drug consignment production and drug development services to most of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Korea.

Through the sale, IMM PE is expected to recover about double the fund’s investment within three and a half years since the initial acquisition. IMM’s fund RoseGold 4, which was used to acquire Genuone, also sold about 30% of its stake in AirFirst to BlackRock in 2023 for over 1 trillion Korean Won.

IMM PE‘s active value creation efforts enhanced Genuone’s corporate value.

IMM PE upgraded the organization and hired new executives who were industry leading experts in drug manufacturing, quality control and drug development. Expansion and relocation of the central research institute to Dongtan, Gyeonggi-do in 2021 to enhance R&D capabilities, and the company investing about 35 billion won in facilities from 2021 to 2023 all contributed to Genuone’s increase in its capability to serve its customers.

Since the acquisition by IMM PE, Genuone‘s sales have continued to grow by double digits every year, recording sales of almost 400 billion Korean Won in 2023, and its EBITDA, which represents the company’s cash generation capacity, was approximately 65 billion Korean Won in 2023.