Daesang Group is reshaping its business around "blue bio" (marine biotechnology), establishing overseas bio subsidiaries in succession and spinning off its chlorella operations for expansion. The move is interpreted as a strategic shift toward high-value-added areas such as microalgae and marine-derived natural materials, as growth in its green bio (agriculture and feed) business, including lysine, continues to slow.
According to industry sources on Wednesday, Daesang Holdings established an intermediate holding company, Santerra Bioholdings, in Singapore last August, investing approximately 2.1 billion won ($1.5 million). In October, it set up Lanfeilyu (Suzhou) Biological Science and Technology within the Suzhou Industrial Park under the holding company, injecting an additional 2 billion won. The entity is an early-stage subsidiary focused on research and development of natural-product-based biomaterials with an eye toward future commercialization.
The move is seen as a strategic step to boost profitability by pivoting from the company's traditional food-centric materials business to high-value-added biomaterials. Daesang Group has operated its chlorella business for more than 30 years and holds approximately 70% of the domestic market. Chlorella is a representative microalgae (single-celled green algae) material widely used in food and health functional food products.
Daesang also recently invested approximately 25 billion won to establish a new subsidiary, Daesang Marivion, to advance its chlorella business. Additionally, it held a shareholders' meeting this month to add intellectual property (IP) acquisition, management and licensing to its corporate objectives. "This is a measure to build new businesses leveraging our existing core technologies and to diversify our technology-based revenue models," a Daesang official said. The move is read as an effort to expand beyond simple raw material supply into a technology-driven business.
Earlier, Daesang Holdings increased its stake in marine microalgae firm MicroalgaesKoreas from 42.2% to 51% in June last year, making it a consolidated subsidiary. Daesang has traditionally produced chlorella through heterotrophic (dark) cultivation methods. By bringing in MicroalgaesKoreas, which possesses phototrophic (light) cultivation technology, the company aims to combine the two cultivation methods to strengthen its competitiveness in microalgae materials.
Behind this business restructuring lies weakening profitability in the food and green bio segments. On a consolidated basis, the group's food division posted operating profit of 115.7 billion won last year, down 11.0% year-on-year, while the materials division recorded 54 billion won, up 12.9%. The amino acid business, including lysine, is also reportedly struggling due to oversupply originating from China. In 2024, Daesang scaled back its equity investment in Chinese lysine producer Chengfu Group and deleted its preemptive acquisition rights, effectively withdrawing its plan to secure management control. In contrast, it acquired Germany's Amino GmbH for 50.2 billion won, entering the high-value pharmaceutical amino acid market. "As the strategy of expanding through commodity materials hit its limits, the company appears to be seeking new avenues by entering high-value-added markets," an industry official said.
