IMM to invest $120 mn in SoftBank-backed subtitle firm

South Korea's IMM Investment Corp. has agreed to invest 140 billion won ($120 million) in Iyuno-SDI Group, valuing the world's largest dubbing and subtitling service provider at around 1 trillion won ($830 million), according to people with knowledge of the matter on Friday.

IMM is set to become the fourth-largest shareholder in Iyuno-SDI, which is seeking an initial public offering on Nasdaq next year.

Its top shareholder is founder and CEO David Lee, followed by Sweden-based private equity firm Altor Equity Partners and SoftBank Vision Fund. Their ownership details were not disclosed.

Iyuno-SDI, established in South Korea in 2002, provides dubbing, subtitling and translation services for more than 80 languages to entertainment companies, streaming platforms and broadcasters, including BBC Studios, Discovery Channel, DreamWorks, HBO and WarnerMedia.

In April of last year, SoftBank Vision Fund injected 180 billion won into the company at an enterprise value of around 600 billion won. It was a follow-on investment after SoftBank Ventures put $23 million into the then Singapore-based company in 2018.

In 2019, it took over London-based BTI Studios AB, Europe's largest subtitling service provider and moved its headquarters to the UK in the same year.

In early 2021, it acquired Los Angeles-based SDI Media Group, the industry's all-time leader. Iyuno-SDI now operates 67 offices across 34 countries.

"Now that it secured a dominant market position through the acquisition of SDI Media, we estimated its enterprise value in the range of 1 trillion won," an IMM Investment official told The Korea Economic Daily's capital market news outlet Market Insight.

The world's dubbing and subtitling service market is estimated at 2 trillion to 3 trillion won, of which Iyuno-SDI Group controls about 15%. Its 2021 revenue came in at 460 billion won.

Write to Si-Eun Park at seeker@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.