◆ The takeover war started by the BK Consortium… Atelier on charges of fraud
In October 2018, the BK Global Consortium in Singapore signed a trading contract for a 50% share of BTC Holding Company, the largest shareholder of BTC Korea, which operates Bithumb. At that time, the acquisition price was about 400 billion won.
The BK Consortium has delayed the acquisition schedule until September 2019 and announced that it will increase its stake by up to 70%. The acquisition amount has risen to $600 million. The outstanding payment alone reached 500 million dollars.
BK Consortium issued BXA tokens in the process of trading Bithumb. This later caused a big problem. The involvement of Bithumb Holdings and Bithumb Korea chairman Lee Jung-hoon, the real owner of Bithumb, was also controversial. It pre-sold about 30 billion won of coins, but was not listed on Bithumb. BXA investors sued the officials, saying, “BTHMB Holdings Chairman Byung-Gun Kim and Advisor Jeong-Hoon Lee deceived the people who invested in BXA and stole profits from property.”
BK consortium chairman Kim Byung-gun did not pay the balance excluding the down payment, so the acquisition contract was not concluded. The plan to buy up to 70% of Bithumb Holdings’ shares was also in vain.
◆ Accusation of complaints among shareholders.. Promotion of resale
On August 27, last year, Bithumb Chairman Lee Jung-hoon selected Samjung KPMG as the sales organizer and announced his intention to re-implement the sale. The market value at that time was 500 to 600 billion won. Bithumb also initiated an IPO before the sale began in earnest. In this process, high court development continued among Bithumb shareholders. Bithumb’s management rights controversy did not easily subside due to the complex shareholder composition and stake relationship, and the conflict caused by the previous sale failure.
From the second half of last year, with the arrangement of shareholders’ positions under water, the search for a new owner of Bithumb began in earnest. This year, Nexon and NC are starting to be discussed as promising candidates for acquisition. On the 8th, Bident, the largest shareholder of Bithumb, announced that “we have not decided whether to dispose of or acquire more shares.” Officially, it is possible to speculate that the shareholders’ interest adjustment has not been completed.
◆ Contact with Huobi Global and International Game Technology
In December of last year, it was reported that Huobi Global, a Chinese cryptocurrency exchange, and International Game Technology, a slot machine developer based in the UK, showed their intention to acquire Bithumb. In early November of last year, there were reports that Huobi Global and Bident completed due diligence for the acquisition of Bithumb.
Both Huobi Global and International Game Technology had sufficient funding power, but the negotiation process was not smooth. It was smuggled that it would only take over the shares of Bithumb’s largest shareholder, not all of the shares controlled by Chairman Lee.
◆ Nexon, NC software… Conclusion of the acquisition of Bithumb? “No practical work”
As the year changed, the composition before the acquisition changed. Rumors spread that Nexon and NCsoft made contact to acquire Bithumb. Nexon Chairman Kim Jeong-joo offered 500 billion won for the acquisition and NC Soft 600 billion won.
Nexon Chairman Kim Jung-joo has a history of acquiring Corbit and Bitstamp, and an analysis that he is willing to acquire Bithumb is strong. Bident made a denial, saying, “The idea of joint acquisition of Nexon and Bithumb management rights is not true.”
The opinion of NCsoft’s participation in the acquisition was embarrassing inside Bithumb. An official from Bithumb said, “I was surprised that NCsoft has never been mentioned as a buyer.” NCsoft said, “The report on participation in the acquisition of Bithumb is not true.”