[THE INVESTOR] China’s Haier and Korea’s CJ and Cuckoo are surfacing as likely bidders to acquire Tongyang Magic, a local appliance maker whose key business is water purifier rental service.

Toyang’s largest shareholders Glenwood Private Equity and NH Private Equity, both based in Korea, plan to send information memorandum to possible bidders next week with aims to start the bidding process from later this month. 

According to industry sources, Tongyang had long gauged its entry into the Chinese market and more recently some Chinese investors, including China’s biggest appliance maker Haier, showed interest in acquiring the company, according to industry sources.

Korea’s food and entertainment giant CJ Group and Cuckoo, a smaller appliance brand that had participated in the bidding for Tongyang in 2014, are also cited as likely bidders in the estimated 500 billion won (US$432 million) deal.

Investors have shown keen interest in the nation’s top water purifier rental companies due to their strong client base and future growth potential.

The market leader Coway is also seeking a new owner even though the company is recently facing a public outcry over its cover-up of defective products containing nickel.

Considering the Coway deal is priced at about 3 trillion won, Tongyang’s far more affordable price is expected to attract more investors. The Glenwood-NH consortium acquired the company for 315 billion won in 2014.

Tongyang forecasts its customers could hit the 1 million mark by the end of this year.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com">jylee@heraldcorp.com)