JC Partners exits Goodrich after 4.5 years as founder buys back stake

Private equity fund manager JC Partners has completed its exit from general insurance agency Goodrich, selling its stake back to founder and CEO Han Seung-pyo roughly four and a half years after its initial investment. The exit caps a turnaround driven by financial restructuring, a revamped sales commission system and the development of the company's sales organization.

JC Partners announced Wednesday that it had completed the sale of its Goodrich stake. The firm recovered 400 billion won ($297 million) from the transaction. The deal delivered a multiple on invested capital of 2.4 times and an internal rate of return of 21 percent, net of management and performance fees.

JC Partners acquired roughly a 60 percent controlling stake in Goodrich — then known as Rich&Co — in 2022 for 185 billion won. Han, who founded the company, sold part of his stake to JC Partners while negotiating a call option allowing him to repurchase the shares four years later, and he remained involved in management throughout.

Han formally notified JC Partners of his intention to exercise the call option in June, and the terms were finalized following an independent valuation and negotiations. Goodrich's enterprise value climbed from 350 billion won in 2022 to around 600 billion won this year. Han brought in Bayside PE and KL&Partners as financial investors to fund the buyback.

JC Partners' investment in Goodrich drew attention as the first instance of a private equity fund acquiring a controlling stake in a general insurance agency. At the time, Goodrich was under mounting financial pressure — it had posted an operating loss of 16.1 billion won in 2021 — but JC Partners saw potential in the sector's growth trajectory and in Goodrich's brand strength and IT capabilities.

After the acquisition, JC Partners injected 100 billion won in new equity while simultaneously paying down existing debt to shore up the balance sheet. It also overhauled the sales commission payment system. Working with primary insurers, Goodrich proactively introduced an installment-based commission disbursement model. Where it had been standard practice for agencies to pay out commissions received from insurers to agents in a lump sum, Goodrich switched to distributing payments across multiple tranches. The change reduced early cash outflows, stabilized monthly cash flow and encouraged agents to manage policies over the long term.

The company also upgraded its proprietary IT platform, including the Goodrich app, to build a foundation for accumulating high-quality customer data in-house. It introduced an in-house training program called Financial Campus to develop agents with no prior experience, establishing a sustainable pipeline for sales force growth. The number of agents rose from 4,000 in 2022 to 6,000.

Earnings improved sharply. Sales grew at a compound annual rate of 26.1 percent, rising from 321.3 billion won in 2022 to 644.6 billion won last year. Over the same period, operating profit swung from a loss of 2.7 billion won to a profit of 55.2 billion won.

"After investing in Goodrich, we focused less on short-term top-line expansion and more on building a sustainable business structure and earnings base that could withstand future regulatory changes," a JC Partners official said. "Improving the financial structure and profitability while at the same time driving qualitative growth through proprietary IT capabilities and internal controls translated into a higher enterprise value and a successful exit — and that is what makes this investment meaningful."