Blackstone said to seek sale of a majority stake in South Korean medicine wholesaler Geo-Young in a deal estimated to be worth up to $1.4bn

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) has started the process of selling its controlling stake in South Korean pharmaceutical wholesaler Geo-Young in a deal estimated to be worth up to $1.4B, according to a media report Wednesday.

The private equity firm, which in 2019 acquired a 71% stake in Geo-Young at an enterprise value of 1.1T won (US$845.8M), recently asked investment banks to choose underwriters for the proposed transaction, The Korea Economic Daily reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The article pointed out that Geo-Young is South Korea’s largest medicine wholesaler by revenue, controlling some 80% of the domestic medicine and medical device distribution market.

Get the week’s top news delivered directly to your inbox – Sign up for our newsletter

Blackstone (BX) controls 99.17% of Geo-Young in a consortium with the latter’s co-founders Cho Hae-sun and Lee Hee-koo. Cho has a 22% stake, while Lee holds a 7% stake, the article said, though it remains to be seen whether they will sell their combined stake.

 Source: Seeking Alpha

Can’t stop reading? Read more