South Korea’s premier exchange Bithumb has sold up to 40 percent of their shares to a blockchain association. This move seems to be an attempt to regain the company’s strength in the Asian market.

The deal closed at 400 Billion Won (about $350 million USD). Interestingly, this represents 38 percent of the company’s overall shares.

As per the information provided by Coindesk Korea, the deal was signed on October 11th by Bithumb. The rights were obtained by BK Global Consortium, a blockchain investment firm that works as the blockchain arm of BK Global. It is basically a plastic surgery medical group based out of Singapore.

Bithumb’s majority shareholder, BTC Holdings Company agreed to sell 50% +1 of its total shares to the aforementioned BK Global Consortium. Now it only holds 38 percent of the equity in Bithumb.

This new partnership has resulted in the acquisition value reaching up to a trillion Won (about $880 million USD).

The exchange’s largest shareholder is Mr. Kim Byung Gun, the chairman of the BK Group. Mr. Kim has invested significant wealth in the Korean healthcare system. He is a renowned plastic surgeon as well. He is also running his own hospital which is in direct relation to Hugel, a biotechnology company. Mr. Kim also founded an ICO consulting company in Singapore about two months back.

Kim did not comment further on the details of the negotiation. Notably, Bithumb faced severe security problems on its platform earlier this year. The exchange was delisted from CoinMarketCap’s global index following a series of wash trading accusations. It used to be one of the top 10 exchanges in the world.