Samjong KPMG Signs MOU with Pathway Partners to Strengthen Financial Advisory in Bio Healthcare Sector

Collaboration on Valuation of New Drug Development Companies

Samjong KPMG announced on the 14th that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Pathway Partners at the Samjong KPMG headquarters in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to enhance financial sophistication and corporate valuation capabilities in the bio healthcare sector.

Kim Idong, Head of Financial Advisory at Samjong KPMG (right), and Lee Sangjin, CEO of Pathway Partners, are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enhance financial sophistication and corporate valuation capabilities in the bio healthcare sector at the Samjong KPMG headquarters in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 14th. Samjong KPMG

This agreement was established to address the limitations in evaluating non-financial factors, such as new drug development portfolios, despite the technology-driven bio healthcare industry experiencing active investment and M&A activity. The aim is to more precisely reflect the unique characteristics of the industry during valuation and due diligence processes.

Founded in 2021, Pathway Partners is a specialized investment firm focused on the bio healthcare sector, with more than half of its assets under management concentrated in this area. Pathway Partners has strengthened its market presence by investing in numerous bio companies, including a large-scale investment in GeneEdit, which drew attention after securing an 840 billion won joint research and licensing agreement with the U.S. new drug platform company Genentech, as well as investments in AI-based drug development companies Galux and Proteina.

Pathway Partners is composed of key personnel with expertise in the bio industry, including CEO Lee Sangjin, a certified public accountant (CPA) who previously worked in investment at Korea Investment Partners and Dominus Investment, and led the IPO process as CFO for KOSDAQ-listed companies VUNO and Olix. The team also includes Moon Chohye, an executive director and adjunct professor at Seoul National University's Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences.

Additionally, its affiliate Pathway Investment focuses on investments in mature-stage companies, such as Pre-IPO investments, and is dedicated to supporting the growth and value enhancement (Value-up) of bio healthcare companies, led by co-CEO Seo Jongnam, formerly of the Korea Exchange.

Through this agreement, the two companies plan to: ▲ strengthen industry expertise by involving Pathway Partners' professionals in Samjong KPMG's valuation and due diligence work, and ▲ establish a collaborative framework in which Samjong KPMG provides acquisition and sale advisory services for portfolio companies identified by Pathway Partners. Through this, Samjong KPMG expects to further enhance its financial advisory capabilities in the bio healthcare field, while Pathway Partners aims to improve its deal execution and valuation capabilities.

In particular, this collaboration is expected to enable sophisticated valuations that reflect the technology portfolios and projected cash flows of new drug development companies, which have traditionally been challenging for accounting firms to perform.

Kim Idong, Head of Financial Advisory at Samjong KPMG, stated, "Through the collaboration between our two companies, we will be able to provide more advanced valuation and M&A advisory services to clients considering investments in the bio healthcare sector," adding, "Going forward, we will actively support clients not only in the bio healthcare sector but also across all technology-based industries so that they can gain real corporate value recognition from global investors and the market."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.