'Big Deal' Medit Sale Main Bidding, KKR and Carlyle Compete

Candidate Document Submission, SKT Ultimately Absent
Global 3rd Largest Dental Oral Scanner Company

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] As the acquisition battle for Medit, which is being sold by private equity firm Unison Capital, intensifies, global private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and the Carlyle-GS consortium have drawn attention by participating in the main bidding.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 19th, Citi Global Markets Securities, which is in charge of managing the sale of Medit, held the main bidding on the day. The GS-Carlyle consortium and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) expressed their intention to acquire the company.

The GS-Carlyle consortium, a combination of a major domestic conglomerate and a global private equity firm, has been considered a strong candidate. KKR is also a powerful contender. KKR has formed an advisory team with Credit Suisse (CS), JP Morgan, and the law firm Sejong.

Among the preliminary qualified candidates (shortlist), SK Telecom did not participate in the acquisition battle. Although they considered the acquisition to strengthen competitiveness in the healthcare sector by focusing on the customer data accumulated by Medit, it is reported that after due diligence and further review, they decided not to participate in the bidding.

Medit is a company specializing in three-dimensional (3D) dental oral scanner technology. It was founded by Professor Minho Jang of Korea University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States in 2000. Unison Capital acquired 50% plus one share of the company for about 320 billion KRW at the end of 2019.

After coming under Unison Capital’s management, Medit has been on a growth trajectory. It established a global sales organization and aggressively expanded into overseas markets. Following its flagship product ‘i500,’ it launched a new product ‘i700’ last year. It currently holds about the third-largest market share globally in the oral scanner market.

Sales soared from 72.2 billion KRW in 2019 to 190.6 billion KRW last year. During the same period, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased from 36.7 billion KRW to 103.9 billion KRW. The enterprise value (EV) is also currently valued at over 3 trillion KRW, up from about 640 billion KRW at the time of Unison Capital’s acquisition.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.