CJ OliveYoung confirmed on the 14th that it plans to early acquire 11.28% of its shares held by the special purpose corporation "Korea Beauty Pioneer," increasing its equity stake to 22.58%.

Korea Beauty Pioneer is a special purpose corporation established by Shinhan Investment Corporation and Shinhan Bank.

CJ Olive Young registers sales of approximately 4.8 trillion won last year based on separate standards. This marks an increase of 24% (921.7 billion won) compared to the previous year. According to the recent public announcement of the shareholders' meeting held by CJ, the sales of CJ Olive Young last year amount to 4.7899 trillion won. The photo shows an Olive Young store in downtown Seoul on Dec. 12. /Courtesy of Yonhap News Agency

CJ OliveYoung explained that it has decided to exercise the call option to purchase the equity held by Korea Beauty Pioneer within three years, just one year after the option became available.

A representative from OliveYoung noted, "We have decided to acquire our own shares, and the acquisition price will be finalized at a later board meeting."

OliveYoung can utilize retained earnings to exercise the call option, reducing financial burdens such as interest and dividends while strengthening the group's control over OliveYoung.

Last April, the special purpose corporation "Korea H&B Holdings" operated by Glenwood Private Equity sold half of its 22.56% equity stake in CJ OliveYoung back to OliveYoung and transferred the other half to Korea Beauty Pioneer.

At that time, OliveYoung also purchased equity held by the general public, currently holding 11.29% equity.

CJ is the largest shareholder of OliveYoung, holding 51.15% equity. The second-largest shareholder, OliveYoung, will increase its equity from 11.29% to 22.58% through this transaction.

Lee Sun-ho, the eldest son of CJ Chairman Lee Jae-hyun, holds 11.04% equity as the head of the food growth promotion division at CJ CheilJedang, while his daughter Lee Kyung-hu, the head of brand strategy at CJ ENM, holds 4.21% equity.