Nature Republic’s plan for an initial public offering faces another delay, after the firm’s trouble-making CEO made headlines for allegedly assaulting his lawyer while in jail.

“The IPO schedule has been postponed,” an official at Nature Republic said. “We are still in the preparation process to pick the optimal time for launch.”


Jeong Un-ho, the leading low-cost cosmetics brand’s founder and chief executive, who has been imprisoned on charges of gambling overseas, now faces violence charges as his lawyer filed a complaint against him for hitting her and using abusive language. He is expected to be released from prison in June this year.

The cosmetics-maker had initially planned to float its shares on the Seoul bourse last year, but postponed it. It’s Skin and TonyMoly, which pushed for IPOs around the same time as Nature Republic, made their stock market debut last year.

Founded in 2009, Nature Republic logged 280 billion won ($243 million) in sales last year. It runs some 700 stores in Korea and 120 stores in 14 countries, mostly in Asia.

The 51-year-old Jeong also founded The Face Shop, popular among both Koreans and international customers, and sold it to a private equity fund Shepherd Detachering BV in 2005.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)