This article was posted on June 5, 2025, at 2:39 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site.
Domestic private equity fund management company VIG Partners has cut ties with domestic No. 1 Volkswagen dealer Classe Auto. After acquiring used car maintenance and sales company Autoplus in 2017 as part of a bolt-on strategy (investments in similar businesses), it ended up with losses without any achievements.
According to the investment banking industry on the 5th, VIG Partners sold about 81% of its equity in Classe Auto to toy company SONOKONG for 8.9 billion won at the end of last month. Considering that it acquired management control equity in Classe Auto for 20 billion won using the VIG No. 3 Fund in 2017, the company incurred a loss of 56%.
Classe Auto was established in 2005 by former BMW dealers as a German Volkswagen import and sales dealer. It achieved sales close to 300 billion won in 2015, just 10 years after its establishment, as mid-size sports utility vehicle Tiguan and mid-size sedan Golf gained popularity in the domestic market.
VIG Partners acquired Classe Auto in September 2017. At a time when Volkswagen was being shunned by the market due to manipulated exhaust emissions results, VIG Partners aimed to expand the used imported car business of Autoplus, which it had acquired for 110 billion won in April of the same year.
However, the synergy between the two companies was different from VIG Partners' expectations. The popularity of Volkswagen, which had fallen due to manipulated exhaust emissions results, could not be restored. Used car sales also differed from expectations. Classe Auto's sales, which were close to 300 billion won, halved to 104.7 billion won last year. Profitability has also worsened, and a loss was recorded in 2023.
The difficulties in selling Autoplus also prompted the decision to cut ties with Classe Auto. VIG Partners invested in Autoplus and Classe Auto through the 'VIG No. 3 Fund' established in 2016, and sought to sell them since 2022 as the fund's maturity approached, but repeatedly faced failed sales.
VIG Partners intends to focus on the sole sale of Autoplus, having reduced its size through the sale of Classe Auto. At the end of last year, it simplified the sale structure by merging Autoplus Service, which procures used cars, and Autoplus Commerce, which runs an online mall, into Autoplus.
VIG Partners aims to sell Autoplus at a fair price. With the help of expanded online used car transactions, sales in 2024 grew from 139.4 billion won in 2017 to 357.2 billion won. Furthermore, Autoplus, which recorded a loss of 6.5 billion won in 2017, generated about 10 billion won in operating profit last year.
Meanwhile, VIG Partners has transitioned the management control equity sale of Autoplus to a regular sale format. It selected Samjong KPMG as the lead manager for the sale last year, but it was not successful. The company stated that negotiations would be conducted immediately if a buyer appears, with the hoped sale price reported to be around 200 billion won.