[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyungsoo] Barunson is showing strong performance. The merger with Toons Digital Idea, a visual effects (VFX) specialized company known as the second Giant Step, appears to have secured new growth momentum, influencing the stock price.
As of 9:32 AM on the 29th, Barunson is trading at 5,950 KRW, up 10.81% from the previous day.
Barunson approved the absorption merger of Digital Idea at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting. Through the merger, Digital Idea will be absorbed into Barunson, which will further strengthen its capabilities as a content-specialized company including movies, dramas, NFT markets, and metaverse projects that Barunson will produce going forward.
The merger method is an absorption merger with Barunson as the surviving entity, and the merger ratio was set at 1:0.758. The merger is planned to be completed by January next year.
Toons Digital Idea is a company that has been developing the domestic VFX business, participating in various works worldwide with high-level graphic production technology and infrastructure. Digital Idea recently showcased Korean VFX technology globally through the space SF genre film 'Seungriho' on Netflix, and completed domestic disaster films such as 'Tower,' 'Ode to My Father,' 'Train to Busan,' 'Exit,' 'Pandora,' 'Ashfall,' and 'Sinkhole' with Korea's top FX technology. It has also been responsible for the VFX of popular domestic dramas like 'Goblin,' 'Mr. Sunshine,' and 'Hotel Del Luna.'
They are also working on the Korean remake of the Netflix hit 'Money Heist,' the famous webtoon work 'Annarasumanara' by Ha Il-kwon, and director Yoon Jong-bin's 'Suriname.' Additionally, they are engaged in projects across various platforms including Disney Plus's first original work 'Grid,' Coupang Play's 'Anna,' and TVN's 'Big Mouth.'
Kang Shin-beom, CEO of Barunson, stated, "Through the merger, a content production specialized company that can lead K-content has been born," adding, "What Barunson does best is creating content, and through the merger with Digital Idea, we have laid the foundation to produce content at a higher level."
He continued, "The power of content will form a major pillar of the Barunson Universe along with its own NFT market and metaverse," and said, "Based on this, we will lead the digital world."
By approving the merger, Barunson plans to strengthen its content-centered business portfolio by explaining market changes in the content industry, vertical integration of production, the importance of VFX, and the significance of merging with Digital Idea. Barunson has produced films such as 'Parasite,' 'The Outlaws,' 'Mother,' 'The Good, the Bad, the Weird,' and 'The Servant.' Recently, it announced a lineup of films and dramas with famous directors and writers, showing aggressive moves in the content market in the 'With Corona' era. Barunson is particularly transforming its existing virtual reality (VR) business into a metaverse business and strengthening the content value chain through technological innovation by starting projects linked to the Busan Regulatory Free Zone and NFT (Non-Fungible Token) trading platform business.
The merger of Barunson and Toons Digital Idea has raised expectations in the domestic stock market. As Wysiwyg Studios' market capitalization surpassed 1.7 trillion KRW, the value of synergy effects when combining video content production and VFX technology has increased.
Wysiwyg Studios recently acquired Artist Holdings. RaemongRaein is preparing to enter the domestic stock market. RaemongRaein will become a subsidiary of Wysiwyg Studios, which is the largest shareholder, along with Artist Holdings. Synergies are expected in actor appearances and joint planning and production of dramas. Wysiwyg Studios is a company specializing in computer graphics (CG) and visual effects (VFX). It gained recognition by participating in CG and VFX work for domestic and international video content such as 'Love Alarm' and 'Seungriho.' Recently, it has also attracted attention for metaverse technology that builds virtual worlds. The acquisition of Artist Holdings aims to utilize the actor lineup to promote video and game development and build a metaverse ecosystem.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
