MBK, Unison Korea pursue dental implant buyout

They are offering to purchase 11.1m shares – or a 71.8% stake – for KRW 190,000 apiece, according to a filing. If fewer than 2.39m shares are tendered, the offer will not proceed. Kyu-ok Choi, Osstem’s chairman and largest shareholder with 18.9%, has agreed to sell 1.33m of his 2.94m shares.

The price represents a 17.6% premium to the company’s closing price on January 20, after which trading was suspended for several days. The stock closed at KRW 187,200 on January 27, giving Osstem a market capitalisation of approximately KRW 2.8trn.

This is the second dental deal in a matter of weeks involving MBK and Unison. At the end of last year, MBK acquired a 99.5% stake in Medit, a manufacturer of 3D dental scanners, for KRW 2.4trn. This facilitated a full exit for Unison, which paid KRW 320bn for approximately 50% of the company in 2019 and is said to have supported a 2.5x in revenue during its holding period.

Established in 1997, Osstem produces a range of dental implants, oral imaging equipment, orthodontic materials, oral health medicines, and dental clinic equipment. It has 30 local subsidiaries across 27 countries and claims to distribute to more than 70 countries worldwide.

Sales for the 12 months ended December 2021 came to KRW 824.6bn, up from KRW 631.6bn a year earlier. Dental implants account for 78.4% of revenue. Over the same period, net income fell from KRW 103.5bn to KRW 23.4bn.

MBK is currently deploying its fifth flagship North Asia buyout fund, which closed on USD 6.5bn in 2020. Unison is in the market with its third fund, targeting up to KRW 900bn.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Buyouts
• Healthcare
• MBK Partners
• Unison Capital
• South Korea