Fiercely before the acquisition of eBay Korea… Participated in preliminary bidding for Shinsegae, Lotte, SKT, and Kakao

Enter 2021.03.16 19:00

Shinsegae, Lotte, SK Telecom, Kakao, MBK Partners, etc.
5 trillion won in selling price Ratings are mixed
The domestic e-commerce market also changes significantly depending on the acquirer.

The acquisition of eBay Korea, which was for sale in the M&A market, heated up. IT companies including major distribution companies such as Shinsegae and Lotte, which were mentioned as promising acquisition candidates, Kakao (035720)Wow SK Telecom (017670)It looks like the plate grows while adding to.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 16th, as a result of preliminary bidding by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, the sales supervisors of eBay Korea, Shinsegae, Lotte Group, Kakao, SK Telecom, and Homeplus’s largest shareholder, private equity fund (PEF) manager MBK It is known that Partners and others participated.

Preliminary bidding is a stage in which companies that meet the bidding conditions prior to this bidding have made their intention to participate in bidding. Companies participating in the preliminary bidding will decide whether to participate in the final bidding through due diligence on eBay Korea’s management indicators. It is expected that the bidding will proceed from May to June after a due diligence period of about two months.

Last year, eBay Korea’s transaction amount was about 20 trillion won, which is the largest after Naver (about 27 trillion won) and Coupang (about 20 trillion won). According to securities industry such as Kyobo, the domestic e-commerce market share is Naver 17%, Coupang 13%, eBay Korea 12%, 11st Street 6%, and Lotte On 5%. Accordingly, the topography of the domestic e-commerce market can be significantly different depending on the company that has eBay Korea.

Distribution conglomerates such as Lotte and Shinsegae are selected as promising candidates for acquisition. This is because if the two companies acquire eBay Korea, they can quickly rise to the top in the e-commerce market.

Lotte and Shinsegae are increasing investments in online shopping platforms’Lotteon’ and’Sep.com’, respectively. Lotte also stiffened the head of the e-commerce business due to the recent sluggish performance. It is analyzed that it will try to make up for the sluggishness of Lotte On through the acquisition of eBay Korea.

On this day, Shinsegae Group signed a strategic alliance with Naver to strengthen its online distribution business and exchanged stocks worth 250 billion won. However, in the industry, it is evaluated that the partnership between the two companies will not be of great help to the self-growth of Shinsegae’s own e-commerce SOP. Accordingly, it is predicted that Shinsegae will set a foothold for competition with Naver and Coupang through the acquisition of eBay Korea.

The IT industry is also interested in the acquisition of eBay Korea. SK Telecom is aiming for synergy with its open market 11st. SK Telecom’s CEO Park Jeong-ho is reported to have made a statement on whether to participate in the acquisition of eBay Korea on the day, saying, “Isn’t it necessary to participate.”

It is analyzed that the acquisition of eBay Korea is important for the transition to an intermediary holding company, which SK Telecom is actively considering this year. It is known that SK Telecom is pursuing a method of establishing a non-communication affiliate (new business) as an intermediate holding company apart from the telecommunication affiliate. In this case, one store (app market) and 11st will enter the intermediate holding company, and the industry’s view is that the acquisition of eBay Korea is necessary to enhance corporate value.

Some say that SK Telecom will form a consortium with MBK Partners to actively engage in the acquisition process in the future. SK Telecom has not disclosed a clear position on this. However, an industry official said, “11st Street, which lacks an offline system, does not seem to be without the possibility of joining hands with MBK, which has an offline base through Homeplus.”

Kakao is currently engaged in a commerce business focusing on mobile gifting. Last year’s transaction amount was reported to be 4 trillion won. However, there is a limit to expanding the e-commerce business at the level of gifting. By acquiring eBay Korea, you can increase the scale of your e-commerce business.

The problem is the acquisition price. The target of the sale is a 100% stake in eBay Korea, and the expected sale price of eBay Korea is known to be 5 trillion won.

The evaluation of the hope price is mixed. There is an analysis that eBay Korea’s 5 trillion won is appropriate compared to Coupang’s market cap soaring more than 100 trillion won right after Coupang’s listing on the US stock market.

The eBay Korea operating margin fell from 20% in 2010 to 10% in 2015. Even last year, when there was a special Corona 19, it was pushed by Coupang and reached only 6%. In addition, the fact that large-scale additional investments will be required for continued competition with Naver and Coupang after the acquisition is an important factor in determining whether the sale is successful.