April 19, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Cosmecca Korea, a local cosmetics maker, said on April 24 it has bought a US original design manufacturer in a 57.76 billion won (US$53.70 million) deal as it moves to expand its presence in the global market.

The Korean company, listed on the country’s secondary bourse KOSDAQ, said it took over a 34.71 percent stake from Englewood Lab and will exercise its managerial rights from early June.

Cosmecca said it expects the latest deal to allow the company to secure clients from key premium brands in the United States. It has been preparing to tap the North American market after establishing its first overseas branch in China in 2014.

“We also thought of launching a local unit ourselves, but instead decided to take over a well-established corporation as it would have taken three to five years to go through all the procedures from the purchase of land to establishment of production facilities,” a company official said.

Established in 2004, Englewood Lab opened a Korean unit Englewood Lab Korea in 2015 and went public on KOSDAQ the following year. The US firm has factories in New Jersey and Incheon, west of Seoul.

“We will upgrade our R&D capability to a global level through a personnel exchange between the two countries,” Cosmecca Korea CEO Cho Im-rae said.

With the latest takeover decision, Cosmecca’s production capability will increase from 550 million units to 737 million by the end of this year, the company said.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldccorp.com)