Korean B2B cloud computing firm BusinessOn up for sale

BusinessOn Communication Co., a leading cloud computing firm listed on the junior bourse Kosdaq, is open to a sale of its controlling stake for around 300 billion won ($226.8 million), banking sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

Seoul-based private equity firm Praxis Capital Partners has decided to sell off a 46.9% stake in the software company and is in talks with potential buyers, sources said. BDA Partners will act as a financial advisor, they added.

Founded in 2007, BusinessOn is a leading supplier of electronic tax invoice and signature systems with a market cap of 308.6 billion won as of Sept. 18. It provides e-tax invoicing service Smart Bill to around 1,500 corporates, including top conglomerates Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK and POSCO.

Praxis bought a 36.2% stake in BusinessOn at 73.7 billion won and injected an additional 20 billion won into the company’s convertible bonds and bonds with warrants in 2019.

The PE firm has poured a combined 71.1 billion won for bolt-on acquisitions, or a series of takeovers in the same industry.

Praxis acquired e-contract system developer Glosign and data analysis firm Planit Partners in 2020. In the following year, it bought corporate accounting software company Nudge Partners and human resources management solutions provider Shiftee.

BusinessOn’s earnings have jumped since Praxis' acquisition. The software company will post 52 billion won in revenue and 18 billion won earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) this year, according to consensus estimates, compared with 15.7 billion won in revenue and a 6.9 billion won EBITDA in 2019.

Some cloud computing companies and PE firms are showing interest in the acquisition as they expect the software-as-a-service (SaaS) sector to rapidly expand in Korea, according to sources.

Write to Jun-Ho Cha at chacha@hankyung.com


Jihyun Kim edited this article.