Samsung SDS Co., the information technology (IT) service unit of South Korea’s top Samsung Group, has acquired a local supplier relations management (SRM) company, a move that will help widen its presence in the global cloud business.

Samsung SDS announced Wednesday that it will buy a 33.4 percent stake in Emro Inc., a leading SRM provider in Korea, for 111.8 billion won ($85 million), and join the company’s board as the largest shareholder.

SRM refers to a system that supports companies to comprehensively manage suppliers and logistics systems that supply parts and facilities for the production of goods.

Emro is known to account for 40 percent of the entire SRM market in Korea.

It is the first time in four years for Samsung SDS to carry out a large-scale equity investment. In 2019, the company acquired over 25 percent stake in CMC Corporation, the second-largest IT service company in Vietnam, for about 50 billion won.

The latest acquisition of Emro will allow Samsung SDS to expand its software as a service (SaaS) lineup to SRM. The company already has a supply chain planning solution Nexprime SCM and a supply chain logistics solution Cello. With the strategic investment, Samsung SDS will be able to secure a comprehensive platform capacity that encompasses planning, procurement and operation of supply chains.

Samsung SDS, in the meantime, held a shareholders meeting on Wednesday and shared the year-worth accomplishments after transitioning into a cloud company.

According to the company, cloud sales topped 1 trillion won last year, with sales of management service provider (MSP) and cloud service provider (CSP) businesses up 85 percent and 30 percent, respectively, from the previous year.

Samsung SDS upgraded its enterprise cloud solution Samsung Cloud Platform (SCP) by installing a disaster recovery (DR) software and cost-optimized solution FinOps.

Shares of Emro were lifted by the acquisition on the Kosdaq market. They closed 29.89 percent higher at 30,200 won on Wednesday and are trading at 37,500 won, up 24.17 percent, on Thursday morning.

Shares of Samsung SDS are trading 0.68 percent lower at 116,900 won.

By Woo Soo-min and Choi Jieun

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