By Lee Hyo-sik
CJ Group has been rushing to take its unlisted units public to raise much-needed funds to finance its growing overseas ventures in food, logistics, biopharmaceuticals and cultural content.
Korea's 13th-largest conglomerate is trying to list the shares of its TV drama and movie producer, pharmaceutical maker and cinema chain in Vietnam, among others, to secure as much as 2 trillion won ($1.77 billion).
The group said Tuesday CJ E&M has filed an application with the Korea Exchange to take Studio Dragon, the nation's largest TV drama and media entertainment content producer, public on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market.
CJ E&M owns a 90.76 percent stake in Studio Dragon and expects the shares will be floated on the bourse as early as October. Company officials expect the initial public offering (IPO) could raise about 600 billion won.
In addition, CJ CGV, Korea's largest cinema chain, is moving to list shares of CJ CGV Vietnam on the main KOSPI market to secure as much as 500 billion won.
CJ CGV, which holds an 80 percent stake in its Vietnamese unit, has begun looking to find a brokerage firm that will lead manage the IPO.
CJ CGV Vietnam, the country's largest multiplex chain running 247 screens at 38 theaters, earned 111.1 billion won in sales last year with an 11.6 billion won operating profit. In July 2011, CJ acquired Megastar Media Company and turned it into CJ CGV Vietnam.
CJ Cheiljedang also plans to restart an IPO process to float the shares of its pharmaceutical affiliate, CH Healthcare, on the local bourse. The unit, split from Korea's largest food company in 2014, is valued at about 1 trillion won.
In 2016, it earned 521 billion won in sales and a 67.9 billion won operating profit. To double the sales to 1 trillion won by 2020, the company plans to spend 20 percent of its revenue on R&D activities to develop new drugs.
"It is true that we are working to take our unlisted units public to raise money to support our expanding global business," a CJ official said.
"We will first list the shares of Studio Dragon and CJ CGV Vietnam in the near future. For CJ Healthcare, the IPO process was put on hold for some time but we will soon restart the process as market conditions have improved," he said.
The return of Chairman Lee Jae-hyun, after a four-year absence, has prompted CJ to expand its overseas presence to achieve its goal of generating 100 trillion won in sales by 2020. It plans to invest 36 trillion won through 2020 to grow existing businesses and acquire other firms.
CJ Group has been rushing to take its unlisted units public to raise much-needed funds to finance its growing overseas ventures in food, logistics, biopharmaceuticals and cultural content.
Korea's 13th-largest conglomerate is trying to list the shares of its TV drama and movie producer, pharmaceutical maker and cinema chain in Vietnam, among others, to secure as much as 2 trillion won ($1.77 billion).
The group said Tuesday CJ E&M has filed an application with the Korea Exchange to take Studio Dragon, the nation's largest TV drama and media entertainment content producer, public on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market.
CJ E&M owns a 90.76 percent stake in Studio Dragon and expects the shares will be floated on the bourse as early as October. Company officials expect the initial public offering (IPO) could raise about 600 billion won.
In addition, CJ CGV, Korea's largest cinema chain, is moving to list shares of CJ CGV Vietnam on the main KOSPI market to secure as much as 500 billion won.
CJ CGV, which holds an 80 percent stake in its Vietnamese unit, has begun looking to find a brokerage firm that will lead manage the IPO.
CJ CGV Vietnam, the country's largest multiplex chain running 247 screens at 38 theaters, earned 111.1 billion won in sales last year with an 11.6 billion won operating profit. In July 2011, CJ acquired Megastar Media Company and turned it into CJ CGV Vietnam.
CJ Cheiljedang also plans to restart an IPO process to float the shares of its pharmaceutical affiliate, CH Healthcare, on the local bourse. The unit, split from Korea's largest food company in 2014, is valued at about 1 trillion won.
In 2016, it earned 521 billion won in sales and a 67.9 billion won operating profit. To double the sales to 1 trillion won by 2020, the company plans to spend 20 percent of its revenue on R&D activities to develop new drugs.
"It is true that we are working to take our unlisted units public to raise money to support our expanding global business," a CJ official said.
"We will first list the shares of Studio Dragon and CJ CGV Vietnam in the near future. For CJ Healthcare, the IPO process was put on hold for some time but we will soon restart the process as market conditions have improved," he said.
The return of Chairman Lee Jae-hyun, after a four-year absence, has prompted CJ to expand its overseas presence to achieve its goal of generating 100 trillion won in sales by 2020. It plans to invest 36 trillion won through 2020 to grow existing businesses and acquire other firms.
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