이 기사는 2021년 05월 17일 07시44분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Maeil Dairies and Daewoong Pharma have submitted indicative offers for FND Net, heating up the bidding war for the nutritional supplement maker owned by Unison Capital.

Apart from the two companies, many other firms in the same industry or industries related to the nutritional supplement sector have participated in the bidding for the private equity firm’s 75% stake in FND Net, sources said.

Unison Capital and Samsung Securities, which is managing the sale process, are expected to shortlist bidders in the coming week. Unison Capital is reportedly seeking a valuation of 200 billion won ($177 million) for its stake in FND Net.

Maeil Dairies is South Korea’s largest dairy producer by revenue, reposting 1.46 trillion won in revenue for the 12 months through December 2020. Its interest in acquiring FND Net is seen as part of a drive to diversify away from dairy products and transform itself into a food conglomerate.

Maeil Dairies are in a good liquidity position, with cash and cash equivalents of 118.4 billion won at the end of 2020. The company also raised 200 billion won from a bond sale last month and said some 40 billion won of the proceeds would be used to bolster its investment in nutritional supplement products.

Daewoong Pharma is also looking to expand its nutritional supplement business by acquiring FND Net, whose sales network across hospitals could create big synergies with the pharmaceutical firm. It is a latecomer to the market, launching new products in this category in April last year.

Daewoong Pharma had roughly 70 billion won in cash and cash equivalents on hand at the end of 2020, and total liquidity, including cash held by its parent company, is estimated to be about 100 billion won.

Founded in 2004, FND Net is one of the oldest nutritional supplement makers in the country. FND Net has differentiated its business model by focusing on building distribution channels through partnerships with hospitals and pharmacies. The company supplies its products through the network of more than 3000 hospitals and 4000 pharmacies, with 120 exclusive in-shop stores in large hospitals.

FND Net’s revenue has continued to grow in the past three years, from 47.6 billion won in 2018 to 61.9 billion won in 2020. Especially, revenue rose by 17.5% last year despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

FND Net has also seen its bottom line increase in the same period, from 6.7 billion won in 2018 to 7 billion won in 2020. The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin, a metric often used as a proxy for cash flow, were 10.2 billion won. (Reporting by Si-eun Park)