Hansol Chemical to enter bio industry with BiOCS acquisition

Hansol Chemical Co., a unit of South Korea’s paper-focused conglomerate Hansol Group, is expanding its business scope to biomaterials by acquiring a controlling stake in BiOCS Co., a biomaterial detergent maker.

Hansol Chemical, a specialty chemicals and materials maker, recently acquired a 10% stake in BiOCS and plans to raise its stake to 51% by the end of February to become its largest shareholder, industry sources said on Tuesday.

The value of the 10% stake wasn’t known, but Hansol estimated the entire enterprise value of BiOCS at about 30 billion won ($24 million), the sources said.

When the 51% stake purchase is completed, Han Sang-won, the founder and chief executive of BiOCS, will own 46% of the company as its second-largest shareholder while the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency will hold the remaining 3% stake.

Industry officials said the deal has been led by Hansol Chemical Vice Chairman Cho Yeon-joo, the eldest daughter of Hansol Chemical Chairman Cho Dong-hyuck.

Hansol Chemical manufactures chemical products such as hydrogen peroxide, benzol peroxide, urea resin, polyacrylamide, trimethylolpropane and latex. It supplies its products to the paper, textile and food industries.

Established in March 1980, Hansol Chemical has production facilities in the southern cities of Jeonju and Ulsan and another plant in China’s Xian.

Its flagship product, hydrogen peroxide, is used for discoloration and bleaching in the paper and textile industries. High-purity hydrogen peroxide is also used as an etching and oxidizing cleaning agent in the semiconductor and display industries.

LOCALLY DEVELOPED BIOMATERIAL DETERGENT

Headquartered in Korea’s bio industry mecca of Songo in Incheon, BiOCS is the first Korean company that locally developed a detergent used in the cleaning process for contamination prevention in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Established in 2016, the company supplies bioprocess chemicals to bio firms, including Samsung Biologics Co. and Celltrion Inc. In November, it also signed an exclusive supply contract with an unidentified Chinese company.

Its detergent is particularly used to clean the bioreactor, an incubator for manufacturing biopharmaceutical products.

BiOCS said its detergent manufacturing plants are designed in line with the US Food and Drug Administration standards and its products are approved by the FDA.

Industry watchers said BiOCS’ annual sales revenue could rise to 10 billion in 2023, when Samsung Biologics' fourth plant enters into full operation.

Hansol Chemical is expected to expand its presence in the Korean bio industry by acquiring more bio materials makers, sources said.

“Now that Lotte Group has also entered the bio business, there is great growth potential for bio process materials. The acquisition of BiOCS will certainly help Hansol diversify its business portfolio,” said an industry official.

Write to Ye-Jin Jun at ace@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.