As the preliminary bidding of eBay Korea begins, interest is drawing on participating companies. Not only large distribution companies such as Shinsegae and Lotte, but also IT companies such as SK Telecom and Kakao, as well as private equity funds, are known to be interested in acquiring eBay Korea.
According to industry sources on the 16th, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, the organizers of the sale of eBay Korea, started preliminary bidding. Participating companies are expected to be announced later.
It is known that eBay officially announced the sale of eBay Korea in January and suggested 5 trillion won as the sale price. This is a condition for the sale of 100% of the stake.
A company that embraces eBay Korea will quickly become an e-commerce powerhouse comparable to Naver and Coupang. For this reason, major distribution companies, Shinsegae and Lotte, are being discussed as promising candidates for acquisition.
If Shinsegae acquires eBay Korea, it can expand its business to the open market. Shinsegae has tried to introduce an open market to strengthen its product assortment, but there was no such thing as a result. When Shinsegae embraces eBay Korea, it can be said that all e-commerce portfolios are completed.
In particular, the Dongtan distribution center built by eBay Korea for smile delivery can be said to be attractive to Shinsegae. Rather than investing additionally in the logistics center Neo, you can utilize eBay Korea’s infrastructure. The eBay Korea structure itself, which has already ended cost-effectiveness and generates stable operating profits, may be less burdensome.
In the case of Lotte, it is expected that Lotte On, which was launched ambitiously, will be able to seriously consider the acquisition of eBay Korea without actually producing satisfactory results. Last year, the transaction amount of Lotte On was 7.6 trillion won, an increase of 7% compared to the previous year. It contrasts with e-commerce companies that have achieved double-digit growth with Corona 19.
If Lotte also acquires eBay Korea, it can quickly become a prominent player in the e-commerce market. It is also an opportunity to get rid of the sluggish performance at Lotte On. However, there are still question marks about the investment potential due to the deteriorating earnings of the offline business unit. This is because both Shinsegae and Lotte suffered a lot of damage offline, such as department stores and duty-free stores.
In the industry, there are also observations that as Naver and E-Mart join hands, Shinsegae may step away from the acquisition of eBay Korea. However, Shinsegae is still regarded as a strong candidate for acquisitions such as Lotte and Kakao.
Kakao, an IT company, and SK Telecom, a telecommunications company, are also mentioned as candidates for acquisition. This is because Kakao has the potential to expand its commerce business by acquiring eBay Korea. There is also an expectation that the company has a wealth of experience in raising the company through M&A strategies so far.
It is also known that SK Telecom has recently received an investment prospectus and is in trouble. SK Telecom has 11st as a subsidiary, and announced a partnership with Amazon last year for commerce growth.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Department Store and Q10, which were discussed together, officially announced that they did not intend to participate in the acquisition of eBay Korea.