Founder buys back Goodrich as KL&Partners backs $290M buyout
What's the deal? GoodrichDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → chief executive officer Han Seung-pyo has bought back the South Korean insurance agency through a call option, in a deal that values the company at roughly US$503M. KL&PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → led the financing as a private equity backer, in a buyout worth US$335.4M. The transaction returned JC PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →' 2022 investment after four years.
What's the background? JC Partners acquired about 60% of Goodrich for US$155.1M in 2022, with a contract that let Han buy the shares back four years later. Including convertible preferred stock, its stake reached 67.3%. It has now recovered about US$335.4M.
Why now? Han notified JC Partners in June that he intended to exercise the call option. The two sides then spent roughly three months settling terms. Han attracted Bayside Private Equity and KL&Partners as financial investors to fund the exercise.
The numbers: Goodrich posted an operating loss of US$13.5M when JC Partners took control in 2022. After the deal, JC Partners injected US$83.8M in new shares and repaid existing debt; Goodrich now holds more than US$83.8M in net cash. JC Partners reported an internal rate of return of 21% and a 2.4x return on invested capital.
What's the endgame? Goodrich is a general agency (GA), selling insurance products on consignment from insurers. JC Partners said it focused on building "a sustainable business structure and profit base," rather than short-term growth.
The signal: The 2022 acquisition was the first time a Korean private equity firm took control of an insurance GA, and JC Partners now calls it the country's first successful exit from such a bet. The clean handback to a founder — via call option, with fresh private equity money — offers a template for future deals in a sector local funds had largely avoided.
Read more: mk.co.kr
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
