[단독]Morgan Stanley participated in the ‘2 trillion ransom acquisition of Bithumb’… ‘Nexon Deal’ is virtually eliminated

Morgan Stanley is negotiating to acquire a stake in Bithumb through Bident
Negotiations with NXC, which were highly likely, failed

Exclusive[아시아경제 이선애 기자] Global Investment Bank (IB) Morgan Stanley jumped into the acquisition of Bithumb (corporation name Bithumb Korea), the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Korea. Earlier, JPMorgan and affiliates of the Chicago Merchandise Exchange (CME) group are also negotiating (deal) to acquire a stake in Bithumb. The deal with Nexon holding company NXC, which showed strong will, is likely to be virtually canceled.

According to the IB industry on the 19th, it was confirmed that Morgan Stanley is in the process of negotiating to acquire a stake in Bithumb through Bident. Bident owns a 10.3% stake in Bithumb Korea, the operator of Bithumb, and up to 34.24% stake in Bithumb Holdings, the largest shareholder of Bithumb Korea, making it the single largest shareholder in terms of its stake structure.

A high-ranking official of Bithumb Holdings pointed out, “Morgan Stanley participated in the Bithumb acquisition deal through M&A’s big hand A (the chairman of an entertainment company), who participated in the acquisition of Bithumb in the past.” A source familiar with the Bithumb sale negotiations said, “The reason Morgan Stanley used Bident is because it understood that Bident has the right to negotiate a preferred sale to acquire Bithumb Holdings.” If you sell or transfer Bithumb Holdings shares, you must obtain the consent of Bident.

Morgan Stanley’s willingness to take over is said to be quite strong. It is planning to secure a stake in Bithumb by investing 300~500 billion won of funds. Morgan Stanley, a super-large IB, with assets under management alone of 4 trillion dollars (about 4,520 trillion won) has taken a stance of recognizing bitcoin as an institutional asset. Wall Street (Wall Street) also opened the way to invest in Bitcoin funds for the first time. CNBC, an economic media outlet, quoted a source on the 17th (local time), saying, “Morgan Stanley is the first large bank to allow asset management clients to invest in a Bitcoin fund.” We will release a dog,” he said. Morgan Stanley’s move is expected to be an important opportunity for Bitcoin to be recognized as an asset as it is the first on Wall Street. Bloomberg also recently reported that “Morgan Stanley Investment Management, an asset management company affiliated with Morgan Stanley, is considering whether to invest in bitcoin.”

It is reported that NXC was actually put into a disadvantageous situation before the acquisition. NXC CEO Kim Jung-joo shows strong willingness to take over, but in fact, negotiations are sluggish and slow. As global financial companies sent a’Love Call’ to Bithumb, the sales negotiations changed, and NXC is unable to narrow its disagreement on the terms of the transaction. A high-ranking official of Bithumb Holdings said, “Nexon has issued a clause stating that the damage will be transferred to Bithumb in the event of a hacking issue, legal problem, or deteriorating profitability.

Currently, eight places, including Morgan Stanley, are sending love calls before taking over Bithumb. The market estimates that Bithumb’s corporate value will reach 2 trillion won. The scale of operating profit in 2019 was 48.1 billion won, but this year alone, it generated nearly 20 billion won operating profit. It is known that the average daily transaction amount recently reached 5 to 7 trillion won. Bithumb’s average daily mobile application (app) users in February is 500,000 to 700,000, and it is estimated that the addition of PC users will reach 1 million.

In November last year, when the sale negotiations were in full swing, Bitcoin was traded at around 15 million won. At the time when it was sold, the sale price of 65% of the stake was known to be around 500 billion won, and as the price of bitcoin rises, it was observed that negotiations would take place at the level of 700 to 800 billion won. Meanwhile, bitcoin continued to rise, surpassing 71 million won on the 14th, and expectations for Bithumb’s corporate value revaluation are flowing from the market.

The estimated market capitalization of Coinbase, the number 1 virtual currency exchange in the U.S., which is promoting listing on the NASDAQ, is around 100 trillion won. As bitcoin continues to show strength despite the sharp decline in US technology stocks, the company’s value has increased, reaching 100 trillion won. Considering that the estimated corporate value of Coinbase and the corporate value of Dunamu, a domestic virtual currency exchange operator of Upbit, soared to 2 trillion won, the industry view is that Bithumb will also receive a valuation similar to that of Dunamu.

Reporter Lee Seon-ae [email protected]