이 기사는 2020년 05월 28일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Juvis Diet is facing constant skepticism about merits of its business, with the first bidding round for the company just around the corner.

Samsung Securities, the lead manager for the sale, plans to hold a first round of bidding for Juvis Diet on May 29, according to investment banking industry sources on Tuesday. Potential buyers are expected to propose their preferred deal structure along with their bidding price in the first round of bidding.

Some potential buyers who have shown interest in the company seem to grapple with issues related to the company. Juvis Diet has attracted close attention from domestic private equity firms thanks to its high profitability, but some weaknesses have started to surface as potential buyers go through thorough assessment on the firm.

Many of prospective buyers are focusing on the company’s reputation. Juvis Diet has grown rapidly in recent years as its celebrity marketing strategy succeeded. Yet, there seems to be risk to its reputation, with the company being in a legal fight with a celebrity who took part in its marketing campaign. This is putting pressure on potential buyers to work hard for post-merger integration process.

Potential buyers are also raising questions about merits of its weight-loss program. Juvis Diet offers weight-loss coaching programs through its directly-run branches nationwide. Some criticize that although some of its weight-loss programs cost almost 10 million won ($8000), the quality of service it offers is quite sufficient.

In response to the situation, the seller is emphasizing massive amounts of aggregated data it owns. The company has told prospective buyers that its database contains more than 1600,000 of counseling data and five millions of customer data. But prospective buyers are in doubt whether those data can be actually utilized.

There is a possibility that the first round of bid may not attract as strong interest as it initially expected. In some private equity firms, there reportedly are internal opinions that the investment in the company has to be reconsidered. Potential buyers who have a good understanding of weight-loss program business and have solid value-up strategies may be able to propose a bidding price which fulfills the seller’s expectation.

(Reporting by Ik hwan-Choi)