이 기사는 2021년 05월 07일 08:02 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

GP Club, which operates the beauty brand JM Solution, is considering including ecommerce companies in its peer group for its planned initial public offering (IPO).

GP Club is reviewing an option to form its peer group with ecommerce companies before calculating its valuation, industry sources said on Tuesday. “Many industry watchers said GP Club will calculate its value based on ecommerce companies’ valuation for its listing,” an industry source said. “Its target valuation is at least 1.8 trillion won ($1.6 billion).”

GP Club submitted its audited financial report for 2020 last month and aims to apply for a preliminary review next month to go public within this year. The company is expected to set its IPO price band and structure after setting its peer group. “We are reviewing a variety of peer companies including ecommerce and cosmetics companies,” said an official at GP Club, adding, “It hasn’t been decided yet.”

Founded in 2003, GP Club transformed itself from a game distributor into a cosmetics company by launching its beauty brand JM Solution in 2016. It has sold a variety of skincare products in partnership with the nation’s leading original equipment manufacturing companies. It also launched lifestyle brand Gangbly Life in 2018.

The big success of its facial masks in the Chinese e-commerce market has driven its dramatic growth. GP Club recorded revenue of over 500 billion won ($442 million) and an operating income of more than 200 billion won in 2018, three years after the launch of JM Solution.

The company raised 75 billion won from Goldman Sachs in October 2018 at a valuation of $1.32 billion in a deal that made the cosmetics company the ninth unicorn – a startup valued at more than $1 billion – in South Korea.

However, its revenue declined from 468.6 billion won in 2019 to 404.4 billion won in 2020, and operating income fell from 122.7 billion won to 97.5 billion won. Net income declined from 96.2 billion won to 67.5 billion won.

“We are strengthening our online business after the outbreak of the Covid-19 last year,” said the official. “The online business now accounts for 20% of the total revenue.” (Reporting by Su-jeong Kim)