According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 26th, among the companies participating in the preliminary bidding of eBay Korea, SK Telecom was listed on the short list.
It is estimated that SK Telecom participated in the acquisition of eBay Korea to enhance its influence in the industry in a situation where competition in the domestic e-commerce market is intensifying. SK Telecom occupied 6% of the market share in the e-commerce market with a transaction amount of about 10 trillion won last year through 11st, which provides an open market service in the same form as eBay Korea. When combined with eBay Korea, which has an annual transaction amount of 20 trillion won, 11th Street can be grown into a body that can compete with Naver and Coupang.
SK Telecom has focused on reducing operating losses with the IPO of 11st in mind. It is interpreted that eBay Korea is the only surplus among domestic e-commerce companies, and the burden of the acquisition will be small.
In November of last year, the launch of a new paid membership was announced by announcing cooperation with Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce platform. It is highly likely that SK Telecom’s’T Membership’ or a subscription service that partially links its digital content with Amazon’s paid membership,’Amazon Prime’.
According to the IB industry, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, the organizers of the sale of eBay Korea, are contacting companies that have participated in the preliminary bidding individually and notifying whether the short list has been confirmed. Other companies participating in the preliminary bidding, such as Lotte, Shinsegae, and MBK, are also expected to check whether they include short lists in order as early as next week.
After the notification of the short list is completed, a preliminary due diligence is conducted in which the bidding companies view detailed data on eBay Korea. The organizer of the sale will select eligible candidates based on the prices and conditions submitted by the candidates for preliminary bidding. As early as the end of April, the preferred bidder is expected to be confirmed after the main bidding.
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