Polaris Office Group Acquires Groupware Leader HandySoft, Creating Revenue Synergy with Over 1,300 Public Institutions and Clients

원본보기 아이콘

Polaris Office Group has announced a major shift in the business-to-government (B2G) software market by acquiring HandySoft, a leading player in the domestic public institution groupware sector.

On July 22, Polaris Office Group stated that its affiliates, Polaris AI and Polaris Sewon, have signed a share and management rights transfer agreement to acquire a 36.8% stake (7,142,858 shares) in HandySoft from Osang Healthcare and four other shareholders for approximately 50 billion KRW. In addition, the group will participate in a third-party paid-in capital increase worth 10 billion KRW, aiming to enhance corporate value and stabilize the financial structure simultaneously.

HandySoft is a leading domestic collaboration software company with over 1,300 client companies and more than 2 million users across sectors such as public institutions, finance, corporations, universities, and hospitals. Its flagship groupware solution, 'HSO10,' is widely adopted by public institutions and is recognized for its outstanding reliability and stability. The customer renewal rate exceeds 90%, indicating exceptionally high loyalty. Recently, HandySoft received a commendation from the Director of the Defense Computing and Information Agency for its successful execution of the 'Defense Onnara 2.0 Project.'

Through this acquisition, Polaris Office, the group's core document software affiliate, will officially enter the public sector document software market, which has long been dominated by a single company. Polaris Office plans to combine its artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies with HandySoft's extensive public institution network to actively drive digital transformation (DX) and AI transformation (AX) in the public sector.

The two companies have already established a cooperative relationship. Polaris Office supplies its widely used HWP file-based web drafting solution to HandySoft's groupware in the form of an application programming interface (API) for public institutions. With this acquisition, they plan to maximize market synergy by integrating HandySoft's groupware solutions with Polaris Office's AI-based productivity software.

Notably, Polaris AI, an affiliate, will be responsible for building enterprise systems and supplying hardware for HandySoft as part of the synergy from this acquisition. This is expected to provide client companies with stable system integration (SI) and hardware infrastructure, further boosting the group's business competitiveness.

HandySoft is also making significant strides in the cloud market. As countries worldwide strive to advance from digital government to AI-driven government, South Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Digital Platform Government Committee are jointly promoting public AX initiatives.

Efforts such as integrating AI into digital documents to build intelligent work platforms and preparing AI-based services for use across the entire government are accelerating cloud migration and AX in the public and financial sectors.

HandySoft offers electronic approval services based on Microsoft Azure cloud solutions and meets the strict security standards required by public institutions, including the Cloud Security Assurance Program (CSAP).

Meanwhile, Polaris Sewon will also contribute to group-wide synergy from this acquisition. The company plans to support the implementation and internal use of HandySoft's groupware to facilitate larger-scale group business integration and modernization, while securing capabilities tailored to specific industries.

With this, Polaris Office Group is expected to secure comprehensive total solution capabilities covering both software and hardware infrastructure, significantly enhancing the group's competitiveness across public and enterprise markets.

A Polaris Office Group representative stated, "By combining HandySoft's public institution client network with Polaris Office's AI and cloud-based software technology, we will be able to successfully lead DX and AX in the public sector. We plan to drive changes in the domestic software market landscape while expanding sales of our product, 'Polaris Office AI,' in the global market."

In addition, with the acquisition of HandySoft, Polaris Office Group plans to actively expand specialized AI and software ecosystems for each industry through its affiliates, including Polaris Office, Polaris Sewon, Polaris AI, Polaris AI Pharma, and Polaris Uno. The group also aims to strengthen the global competitiveness of its software, 'Polaris Office AI,' by increasing paid subscribers both domestically and in North America.

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.