CJ Foodville, a food services company under South Korean conglomerate CJ Group, is selling off its premium wedding and banquet business unit to Japan-based private equity fund Unison Capital.

A CJ Foodville official on Friday said that the firm is “in the process of selling off Apelgamo, CJ’s premium wedding hall and banquet services brand in Seoul, to Unison Capital.” The firm will soon spin off the division for the sale.

The official selling price of Apelgamo has yet to be disclosed, but market watchers estimate the deal is worth around 40 billion won ($35 million).

CJ’s decision to sell off its wedding services unit comes after years of strong criticism from small and mid-sized wedding hall operators who argue that the conglomerate was eating into their businesses and going against its stated policy of “shared growth” with smaller firms.

“We decided to terminate our wedding business in order to pursue shared growth with SMEs in the field, which have been asking us to pull out of this business segment,” the official said.

CJ Foodville has been unable to expand its Apelgamo outlets since signing an agreement in 2014 with a group of SMEs in the wedding business to cap the number of new wedding halls it could add over a three-year span at three.

CJ currently operates three premium wedding halls under the Apelgamo brand in Jamsil, Banpo and Gwanghwamun. Unison Capital is expected to continue managing the three branches after the buyout.

Unison Capital manages a fund worth some 300 billion won, and is best known in Korea for having purchased Taiwan-based milk tea franchise Gong Cha Korea in 2014.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)