PAG exits Young Toys to Korean strategic buyer
PAG Asia Capital has sold Young Toys, a South Korea-based toy manufacturer it has owned since 2015, to a consortium led by MiraeN Group, a leading local publisher.
The size of the transaction was not disclosed. The Korea Economic Daily reported last month that the deal was worth KRW150 billion ($127 million), identifying the other members of the consortium as domestic GPs Nvestor and Corstone Asia. PAG acquired Young Toys from Headland Capital Partners – now HPEF Capital Partners – for KRW220 billion, according to AVCJ Research.
Young Toys claims to be Korea’s leading children’s toy company, focused on developing and licensing animated characters and branded content. Its portfolio includes Tobot, a Transformers-style robot series, Secret Jouju, a fashion doll brand like Barbie, and Kongsuni, an anime-inspired toy series. The company – which relies on a combination of proprietary intellectual property and brands licensed from global partners – has sold its products in 50 international markets.
Young Toys was established in 1980 and Headland acquired the business for KRW60 billion in 2012 as a succession planning solution: the founder decided to retire, and without any family to assume control of the business, he turned to private equity.
The new owner, MiraeN, is best known as a publisher of school textbooks, having won its first contract with the Ministry of Education to issue government textbooks for secondary schools in 1948. The product lineup now also includes reference books for children and adults and the company is moving into entertainment-related areas, in print and digitally.
PAG made the investment from its debut fund, which closed at $2.5 billion in 2012. The firm is currently deploying its third pan-Asia buyout vehicle, having achieved a final close of $6 billion in 2018. There are no other portfolio companies based in Korea.
According to BDA Partners, which served as exclusive financial advisor to PAG, this is the first Korean private equity transaction to have been revived after being put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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