[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Woojin Group has announced its acquisition of funeral service provider Pridelife for 883 billion KRW.
According to the public announcement on the 29th, Woojin has signed a stock purchase agreement (SPA) with private equity fund (PEF) operator VIG Partners to acquire a 99.77% stake in Pridelife.
Woojing received exclusive negotiation rights for the acquisition of Pridelife’s shares on February 17th and conducted a detailed due diligence process over the following five weeks. After finalizing the acquisition price and key terms with VIG Partners, the deal was concluded.
As part of the agreement, VIG Partners will recover their investment in Pridelife, having entered the funeral service industry in 2016 through the acquisition of Jooneun Life, marking their exit after nine years.
The total price for the 100% stake in Pridelife is approximately 883 billion KRW. Woojin will pay an initial deposit of 88.3 billion KRW, which accounts for 10% of the purchase price, with the remaining balance due by the end of next month.
The remaining 0.23% stake is held by individual minority shareholders unrelated to VIG Partners. Woojin plans to first acquire VIG Partners’ shares and then contact the individual minority shareholders to purchase the remaining stake.
Pridelife, which Woojin is acquiring, is the leading funeral service provider in Korea, holding customer advance payments totaling 2.56 trillion KRW as of the end of last year. The funeral service market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 5% until 2029.
Funding for the transaction will be raised without a rights offering, using existing assets and cooperation with external financial institutions, including the issuance of perpetual bonds and acquisition financing.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
