Korea’s water purifier maker and distributer Coway Co. said its net profit jumped 22.7 percent to mark 95.2 billion won ($83.6 million) in the first quarter from a year earlier.

In a public filing, the company said its sales rose 13.8 percent to 623.6 billion won and operating profit increased 23.2 percent to 123.5 billion won in the first quarter year-on-year.


Local private equity MBK Partners, which owns 30.9 percent stake in Coway, put the company up for sale in August last year and selected Goldman Sachs to broker the deal.

CJ Group in December last year did not submit a final offer for MBK’s Coway stake after taking part in preliminary bidding in October.

Prior to the announcement of the first-quarter earnings, Coway’s shares fell 1.94 percent to close at 96,000 won on Tuesday.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)