[Provided by Kurly]
[Provided by Kurly]

Kurly announced Friday it will fully absorb NextKitchen, an affiliate specializing in home meal replacement (HMR) and restaurant meal replacement (RMR) products, as a wholly owned subsidiary.

The transaction will proceed through a small-scale share swap, exchanging newly issued Kurly shares for NextKitchen shares at a ratio of 6.6 to 1 (Kurly to NextKitchen). Kurly will issue 334,926 new common shares to complete the deal.

Through the swap, Kurly's stake in NextKitchen will rise from 46.4 percent to 100 percent. The share exchange is scheduled for Dec. 7, after which NextKitchen will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary.

Kurly plans to use the acquisition to sharpen its competitiveness in the ready-meal segment by bringing the entire process — from product planning and development to retail — in-house, with the goal of raising the quality of its HMR and RMR offerings. The company also intends to expand its K-food exports to the United States and other markets, and will restructure the governance and operational framework between the two companies.

Once the integration is complete, Kurly Chief Commercial Officer Choi Jae-hoon will be appointed chief executive of NextKitchen.

"NextKitchen has maintained steady growth on the strength of its outstanding product planning, development capabilities and operational expertise," Choi said. "This integration will take both companies' ready-meal competitiveness and export capabilities to the next level."


spa@heraldcorp.com