[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] Naver has taken over BusinessOn, a domestic service software (SaaS) company.

According to The Korea Economic Daily on the 21st, Naver is considering M & A after receiving a business-on investment manual (IM) from BDA Partners, the organizer of the sale, last week.

The acquisition target is a 46.91% stake in BusinessOn held by Praxis Capital Partners, a private equity fund (PEF) operator. Praxis Capital Partners, which specializes in mid-caps (small and medium-sized companies), acquired business-on management rights in 2019 and grew the company into a comprehensive SaaS company.

The sale side was negotiating with global PEFs such as EQT Partners, TA Associates and Goldman Sachs PE, but Naver was found to have belatedly expressed its intention to take over. As the takeover battle heated up, BDA Partners received an additional letter of intent (LOI) to expand its candidate group and changed its position to make a main bid in the first half of next year.

Naver is known to review M & A to create synergy with the AI business. SaaS is a variety of software services used in cloud computing environments and is being fostered by Naver as a growth business.

 

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