Hyundai department store group expands business scope into beauty and healthcare

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SEOUL --South Korea's Hyundai department store group expanded its business scope into beauty and healthcare by acquiring a controlling stake in SK Bioland, an SK Group subsidiary that produces a variety of plant extracts used as cosmetic ingredients as well as biomedical devices and ingredients for functional food and active pharmaceuticals.

The department store group said it would acquire a 29.7 percent stake in SK Bioland and management rights through its subsidiary Hyundai HCN, a cable TV operator, for 120 billion won ($101 million).

The acquisition underlines Hyundai Department Store's push to nurture a cosmetics and biomedical division. In May, Handsome, the group's fashion subsidiary, jumped into a cosmeceutical market by acquiring a 51-percent stake in Cleangen Cosmeceuticals, a domestic functional cosmetics company that has know-how in developing functional cosmetics.

Cosmeceuticals, a combination of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, refer to cosmetic products with bioactive ingredients purported to have medical benefits. To secure raw materials and specialized technologies, Handsome will seek to collaborate with domestic and overseas companies.

Handsome plans to expand its product line to color cosmetics and perfumes and use the patented technology of "super epidermal growth factor (EGF)" that has improved skin absorption among existing EGF effects. Super EGF ingredients will be supplied by Genexine, a biotech company. EGF discovered by Nobel Prize winner Stanley Cohen is a protein that stimulates cell growth.

Lim Chang-won cwlim34@ajunews.com

Hyundai department store group expands business scope into beauty and healthcare

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