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| The headquarters of Medit in Seoul / Courtesy of Medit |
MBK and Medit expected to sign SPA within this year
By Anna J. Park
MBK Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Asia, plans to acquire digital dental business Medit within this year, after being tapped recently as a preferred bidder, and will now enjoy exclusivity in the acquisition discussions with Medit's largest shareholder, Unison Capital.
According to investment banking industry insiders Wednesday, Citigroup Global Markets Securities ― the sales manager of Medit ― tapped MBK Partners earlier this week as the new preferred bidder of the deal. It is estimated that the 100 percent stake in the 3D dental scanner company would be sold for around 2.6 trillion won ($2 billion), although the price is subject to change during the remaining negotiation process.
The price is about 10 percent lower than what the GS-Carlyle consortium offered in their previous bid in October. The consortium suggested the highest bidding price of 3 trillion won ($2.26 billion), winning a main bid conducted in the month. Yet, it lost its preferred bidding position early in November, due to disagreements over the acquisition price.
After GS-Carlyle lost the preferred bidder position, Unison Capital began engaging in talks with other major global private equity firms, including KKR and CVC Capital. Amid these talks, MBK Partners nimbly grabbed the acquisition opportunity, as it positively assessed the medium- and long-term growth potential of the digital dental business globally.
Actually, Medit's annual revenue hiked to 190 billion won in the last year, which is nearly triple the 72 billion won posted in 2019. With the rapid revenue increases, the corporate value of Medit also rose quickly to nearly 3 trillion won now, from some 640 billion won in 2019, when Unison Capital acquired a 50 percent stake in the firm. Now Medit is one of the top players in the global digital dental industry, with its 3D scanner technology.
As both parties are hoping to close the deal as soon as possible, a stock purchase agreement (SPA) is expected to be signed by the end of the year, and the final closing of the deal is expected to be done by the end of the first quarter next year.
