NPX Holdings Acquires Stake in Bioptro

NPX Holdings announced on the 4th that it is scheduled to become the largest shareholder of Bioptro.

Kim Wansu, the largest shareholder and CEO of Bioptro, along with five others, signed a contract to transfer 2,473,610 shares to NPX Holdings and four other parties at a price of 12,000 KRW per share.

Earlier, NPX Holdings decided to invest 7.7 billion KRW in Bioptro through convertible bonds last October. It will also participate in a third-party allotment capital increase with an amount of 7 billion KRW. The payment date for both is January 5th of next year.

A representative of NPX Holdings explained, "CEO Kim Wansu will retain a stake equivalent to about 600,000 shares and contribute as Chief Technology Officer (CTO)," and added, "We also plan to add new business purposes to secure new growth engines and appoint new management."

Bioptro will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders at its headquarters in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on the 18th to appoint Samuel Hwang, Kim Kyungsoo, Cheon Sanghyun, and Lee Seungcheol as directors. It also plans to add management, IT materials, and investment business to its business purposes.

Director Hwang is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States and currently serves as CEO of NPX Holdings and NPX Private Equity. In 2009, he founded the education company New Pathway Education in China, and after gaining recognition for its technology and educational business achievements, sold the company to EIC, a major Chinese educational institution acquired by the global private equity firm CVC Capital. He also served as CTO at EIC and contributed to the sale of EIC to NLD Investment.

Director Kim Kyungsoo previously worked at Hana Securities and served as Vice President of Topco. He led the acquisition of the listed company Topco Media and its turnaround to profitability. Last month, he joined NPX PE as Executive Director and has been promoting the acquisition of Bioptro.

A company official emphasized, "The agenda to change Bioptro's company name will also be discussed at the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders," and added, "We will strive in various ways to enhance corporate value and shareholder value."