Shinhan Financial Group, a major banking group in South Korea, has been selected as the preferred bidder for the acquisition of a venture capital company under cash-strapped conglomerate Doosan, sources said on July 29.
Shinhan, a financial giant that has no venture capital unit, has been eyeing the ownership of Doosan’s Neoplux since last month.
The move is apparently in line with Shinhan’s vows last month to invest 85 trillion won ($70.6 billion) in innovative businesses in a bid to hire more tech-focused employees as part of its N.E.O project. N.E.O stands for new economic growth supporting operations, according to the company.
Market watchers are currently projecting the price to be around 70 billion won.
Doosan holds a 96.8 percent stake in Neoplux, which was established in 2000 and held 780 billion won in total assets under its management as of late 2019. Of the total assets, 440 billion won were in venture funds and 340 billion won were in private equity funds.
Neoplux reported an operating loss of 6.4 billion won last year, shifting into a negative terrain of 10.6 billion won in operating profit, the previous year.
Doosan, which has been struggling with a liquidity crunch, has been mapping out plans to sell-off several of its units as part of its self-rescue measures.
By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)