[아이뉴스24 이연춘 기자] “The future competitors in the retail industry will be theme parks or baseball fields.”
At the opening ceremony of Starfield Hanam in 2016, Jung Yong-jin, vice chairman of Shinsegae Group, said that the distribution business should be a space that occupies customers’ time, not just selling products.
Five years later, Vice Chairman Chung aggressively began to take over a professional baseball team, as if solving a puzzle of management philosophy. On the 26th, Shinsegae Group agreed to acquire SK Telecom and SK Wyverns baseball team and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). Beyond the first Shinsegae Group this year, it is the first takeover led by Vice Chairman Jeong Jin Doo.
But inside and outside the market, there are many eyes of disbelief, which draws attention.
According to financial investment on the 29th, the stock price of Shinsegae Group, which started to acquire SK Wyverns, and E-Mart, which is known to be a parent company, have stepped back after the announcement of the acquisition.
The stock price of E-Mart, which will be the parent company of SK Wyverns’ acquisition, has declined for three consecutive trading days. On the 28th, the transaction was closed at 169,000 won, down –0.88% from the previous trading day. It fell -7.63% compared to the 25th before the announcement of the acquisition.
Major affiliates of the group, such as Shinsegae, Shinsegae Construction, and Shinsegae International, also showed weakness for three consecutive trading days. Market experts analyze that investment sentiment may shrink in the short term.
Inside and outside the financial investment industry, the acquisition is interpreted as a decision that reflects the will of the vice chairman, who is likely to become the owner.
After the acquisition of SK Wyverns, Vice Chairman Jeong presented a blueprint to turn baseball fans into’Shinsegae’s fans’ through synergy with the existing Shinsegae business, but the market’s reaction was cold.
Some of the market believe that investors are likely to react negatively to the acquisition of a professional baseball team that is not directly related to Shinsegae Group’s main business. Experts’ analysis, which initially predicted the acquisition price of around 200 billion won, explains that investment sentiment that turned back even though the acquisition price is low of 135.3 billion won is not recovering.
Hana Financial Investment analyzed that E-Mart’s acquisition of SK Wyverns baseball team would be a successful investment like Starfield. The synergy and marketing effect were still questionable.
Park Jong-dae, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, said, “Excessive expectations are prohibited, but too much concern can hinder rational investment as the size and performance of the investment is insignificant.” “Investing KRW trillion,” he said, and it is necessary to remember that many people have raised questions.
He said, “Investment sentiment can be a bit worse,” he said. “The expansion of the hotel business (especially, Rescape) was disappointing.”
“Investment in US supermarkets such as Good Food Holdings is also making question marks in terms of its purpose and mid- to long-term outlook,” he analyzed.
The Korea Credit Rating also analyzed that the acquisition requires mid- and long-term monitoring for specific plans and success for online and offline synergy. We judged that the acquisition results would be difficult to show in the short term.
Han Tae-il, researcher Han Shin-pyeong said, “Considering that Shinsegae Group has already secured top-tier market position and brand recognition, it is unclear whether securing a new consumer base and enhancing brand image through the acquisition of the baseball team will lead to substantial sales increase.” “There is also a need for concrete measures to create synergy in online and offline stores using baseball teams and baseball fields,” he said.
E-Mart spends 135.3 billion won in funding at the time of acquisition, and an additional cost of more than 20 billion won per year is expected on a consolidated basis, one researcher predicted.
One researcher said, “Affiliates such as SK Telecom are incurring around 23 billion won a year to compete with SK Wyverns in terms of advertising expenses, support funds, etc.,” he said. “After the acquisition of E-Mart, similar support will be needed. Therefore, an additional cost of more than 20 billion won per year is expected.”
Reporter Lee Yeon-chun [email protected]