RBW to acquire half of Urban Works for 10 billion won

K-pop agency RBW will acquire 50 percent of Urban Works for 10 billion won ($7.88 million) to become the largest shareholder of the production house, the entertainment company said Thursday.

The agency, home to girl group Mamamoo and boy band Oneus, will buy 300,000 shares of the company at 33,333 won per share, bringing the total to 10 billion won.

The deal will be signed on Jan. 2 and the payment will be made in full by the first half of next year.

“Through the acquisition, we hope to plan and produce a variety of programs which can maximize the value of artists and music owned by RBW,” said RBW CEO Kim Jin-woo in a statement. “We greatly anticipate a synergy effect where we can foster global artists at a quicker rate through securing the infrastructure for content production.”

RBW is an entertainment company established in 2010 by Kim Jin-woo and producer Kim Do-hoon. The company owns over 7,000 music copyrights and related intellectual property. It recently acquired entertainment agencies WM Entertainment and DSP Media in March 2021 and January 2022.

Urban Works, established in March 2009, is the multimedia company behind hit TV shows such as KBS 2TV’s “The Return of Superman” (2013-), SBS’s “Running Man” (2010-), Channel A’s “Oh Eun Young’s Golden Clinic” (2021-), tvN’s “Black Dog” (2020) and OCN’s “Bad Guys” (2014). The company recently expanded its business to include marketing, production of commercials and advertising.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]