[단독] Nexon Kim Jung-joo acquires virtual currency exchange’Bithumb’… Around 500 billion

NXC CEO Kim Jeong-joo, the founder of Nexon, a game company, started to acquire Bithumb, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Korea. This transaction is said to have been directly led by CEO Kim Jeong-joo, drawing attention.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 7th, Nexon Group plans to buy out (acquired management rights) for Bithumb in partnership with Bident, a major shareholder of Bithumb. The acquisition price was delivered around 500 billion won.

Nexon is known to have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the seller at the beginning of this month, with the decision to take over all shares owned by Chairman Lee Jung-hoon and others. It is reported that out of Bithumb’s total stake, Nexon acquires 65% of the total.

Bithumb selected Samjung KPMG as the sales organizer and started the sale in August of last year. In the preliminary bidding held in September last year, a number of financial investors (FI) and strategic investors (SI), including domestic and foreign private equity fund (PEF) managers, bid for success. However, the sale seems to have slowed down as Chairman Jeong-hoon Lee, the largest shareholder and representative, was investigated for fraud. This is interpreted as the background of the delay in the selection of the preferred negotiator, which was scheduled to take place in November.

In the process of this transaction, the entire stake in Bithumb was evaluated to be worth about 650 billion won. Considering that Bithumb’s old shares are trading at a total value of KRW 1 trillion in the over-the-counter market, Nexon is taking over at a discount price.

Bithumb holds Bithumb Holdings (74%), Bident (10%), and Omnitel (8%) as major shareholders, many of which are reportedly owned by Chairman Lee Jung-hoon.

It is interpreted that the management decided that the sale could no longer be delayed ahead of the system change related to the cryptocurrency exchange this year.

The’Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information (Special Offer)’, which passed the National Assembly plenary session last year, allowed virtual currency operators to operate after obtaining permission from the Financial Information Analysis Institute (FIU).

It seems that there is no guarantee that the cryptocurrency exchange with large shareholders who caused social controversy will be able to obtain permission from FIU.

Accordingly, Bident planned to take over management rights with a total value of 600 billion won, but it was not successful due to lack of capital, a message from an IB industry official.

[강두순 기자 / 진영태 기자 / 박창영 기자]
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