Macquarie PE Signs About $206.9m Deal for Hwaseong Cosmetic and Nowcos
Macquarie buys two cosmetics ODMs from Affirma Capital as a package; the founder's remaining 30% is planned to be acquired later.
- Deal value
- $207m
- Stake
- —
- Implied 100%
- —
- Revenue
- $76m
- Op. income
- $14m
- Multiples
- —
구주
Not derived: package price for 70% of Hwaseong Cosmetic and 100% of Nowcos
2025 연결 · DART-verified
2025 연결 · DART-verified
DART 20260401004897
- Target
- Hwaseong Cosmetic and Nowcos · Cosmetics ODM
- Buyer
- Macquarie PE · FI
- Seller
- Affirma Capital
- Structure
- Secondary
- Announced
- Sep 18, 2026
- Closed
- —
- Stage
- Signed
Target
Hwaseong Cosmetic is a color cosmetics ODM focused on eye makeup serving clients from Korean indie brands to L'Oreal and Estee Lauder; Nowcos is a skincare ODM. 2025 figures reported: Hwaseong revenue about KRW 110bn and EBITDA about KRW 24bn, Nowcos revenue about KRW 69.5bn.
Deal rationale
Affirma Capital bought 70% of Hwaseong Cosmetic in 2019 for about KRW 140-160bn, added Nowcos as a bolt-on in 2022, took Nowcos private via tender offer in February 2026 and sold the two as a package. Macquarie Asset Management, named preferred bidder in August 2026, signed an SPA on 18 Sept 2026 for 70% of Hwaseong and 100% of Nowcos, plans to buy the remaining 30% from founder Ryu Kyung-hoon and others, and is reported to be using Macquarie Korea Opportunities Fund 6; it cited its 2024 acquisition of CDMO Genuone Sciences as a value-up precedent.
| Revenue | $76m |
| Operating income | $14m |
| EBITDA | — |
| Net income | — |
2025 연결 · DART-verified · 20260401004897
Lead
Macquarie PE signed a share purchase agreement in September 2026 to buy 70% of cosmetics ODM Hwaseong Cosmetic and 100% of Nowcos from Affirma Capital for about $206.9m. Named preferred bidder in August, it beat a Korean PE consortium and a European strategic investor. The founder’s remaining 30% of Hwaseong Cosmetic is planned to be acquired later.
USD figures are converted at KRW 1,450 = USD 1.
Why this matters
Affirma Capital acquired 70% of Hwaseong Cosmetic in 2019 and added Nowcos as a bolt-on in 2022. Its first sale attempt in 2024 did not go through, and the relaunched 2026 sale drew five to six preliminary bidders. It is a fund-to-fund secondary buyout.
Deal terms
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Deal value | about $206.9m (two-company package) |
| Stakes | 70% of Hwaseong Cosmetic, 100% of Nowcos |
| Hwaseong Cosmetic 2025 results (consolidated) | revenue $76.3m, operating income about $13.7m |
Multiples are not calculated because the price covers two companies.