Juno Hair to sell stake to Blackstone

Juno Hair to sell stake to Blackstone

최초입력 2025.07.02 09:57:06

Kang Yun-seon, CEO of Juno Hair. (Kim Ho-young)

South Korea’s Juno Hair is preparing to sell a controlling stake to global private equity firm Blackstone Inc., a move aimed at accelerating its global expansion.
According to investment banking industry sources on Tuesday, Juno Group named Blackstone as the preferred bidder for the sale of its controlling stake. The company is valued at over 800 billion won ($590 million) based on full equity.
Most global private equity firms with a presence in Korea reportedly participated in the bidding, with Blackstone securing exclusivity by offering the most competitive terms. A major Korean accounting firm is advising on the transaction.
Juno Hair, the country’s largest hair and beauty salon brand, is currently wholly owned by Chief Executive Officer Kang Yun-seon and related parties. Kang, the largest shareholder, is considering selling more than 50 percent of her stake to Blackstone while retaining a minority interest and remaining involved in management. The structure would resemble Blackstone’s 2019 acquisition of Geo-Young Corp., where founder and Chairwoman Cho Sun-hae remained the second-largest shareholder with a 20 percent stake.
Born in 1960, Kang opened the first Juno Hair salon in north Seoul in 1982. After graduating from a vocational high school, she launched the business from scratch and built it into Korea’s leading salon brand. In the local beauty industry, she is viewed as a pioneering self-made entrepreneur with no elite academic background.
The proposed sale follows L’Oréal SA’s acquisition of Korean indie beauty brand Nanda Co. and is another milestone for female-led startups in Korea’s beauty sector. A Juno Hair representative said that while a final decision is yet to be made, the company is “reviewing a partnership for overseas expansion” via investment attraction.
Now in its 40th year, Juno Hair operates around 180 stores nationwide with more than 3,000 employees. All locations are directly managed, and veteran employees with over 10 years of service can co-invest and operate their own stores, which sets the brand apart from traditional franchise models.
The company has more than 250 employees with over a decade of service. Annual revenue has grown from around 180 billion won in 2019 to more than 300 billion won, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) estimated at over 30 billion won. Total holdings are said to be worth several hundred billion won including real estate assets, and Kang reportedly initiated the sale to position the brand for global expansion.
Juno Hair has recently accelerated its overseas push, opening its first directly operated overseas store in Clark, the Philippines, in January 2024 followed by locations in Bonifacio, Bangkok, and Orchard Road in Singapore. Stores in Shinjuku, Tokyo and Ho Chi Minh City are also in the pipeline. The company has diversified its operations with Juno Academy, premium salon brand Avenue JUNO for weddings and special occasions, and hair product brand Tria Milia.
Juno Academy is the only hair and beauty institution in Asia certified by the United Kingdom’s Sassoon Academy and offers the same curriculum as its London counterpart.
Headquartered in New York, Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager with more than $1.2 trillion in assets under management and its private equity portfolio alone exceeds $210 billion. It acquired a 46 percent stake in Geo-Young in 2019, later increasing its holding to 71 percent which it sold to MBK Partners in April 2024.
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Juno Hair to sell stake to Blackstone

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