Dongwon Industries, the biggest tinned tuna seller in Korea that recently drew attention by expressing an intention to jump into the biopharmaceutical business, abruptly gave up acquiring Boryung Biopharma, raising questions about its background.

In a public filing on Wednesday, Dongwon said it had decided not to go ahead with acquiring Boryung Biopharma.

The company also disclosed that it terminated the due diligence priority granted to it along with the signing of a memorandum of understanding on Feb. 23 under a bilateral agreement.

The final decision was confirmed due to the difference of opinions between the two companies that couldn’t be narrowed. However, both companies did not elaborate on why.

Industry watchers wondered about the sudden abandonment of the acquisition bid. Dongwon had expressed a firm intention to take over one of the nation’s oldest pharmaceutical companies. That also explains why Dongwon emerged as a strong contender even before announcing a short list of final candidates.

The abandonment has put the sell-off of Boryung Biopharma to ground zero.

Many industry watchers had thought the acquisition process would end in the first quarter of the year but said a delay in the process seemed inevitable.

Boryung Biopharma officials plan to push ahead with the selloff process in an open competition among other candidates who have submitted a letter of intent (LOI).

Late last year, Boryung began its sell-off process by selecting Samil PwC as a lead manager. As a result of conducting preliminary bidding, five or six companies, including another drugmaker with a long history, Chong Kun Dang, submitted LOI.

The Boryung Group is pushing for a sell-off of its biopharmaceutical unit to raise funds for Jay Kim, a third-generation owner who also serves as its CEO and chairman, to take over the group’s management control. The group maintains a position to set Boryung Biopharma’s value at about 600 billion won ($464 million).

Meanwhile, Boryung reiterated its intention to jump into the space healthcare business, or CIS (care in space), in a recent CEO’s letter and at its general shareholders’ meeting on Tuesday. To this end, it will establish a joint venture with Axiom Space of the United States.

“It is an investment to develop new drugs to treat diseases and replace existing international space stations,” Kim said in the latter. “Boryung will grow by investing in areas that are essential for humankind’s progress in the long term.”