On the 24th, Kang Hee-seok, CEO of E-Mart, said, “We are seriously considering the acquisition of eBay Korea.” Kang Hee-tae, CEO of Lotte Shopping (Vice Chairman), also officially announced the’exhibition’ at the regular shareholders’ meeting on the previous day, saying, “I am sufficiently interested in the acquisition of eBay Korea.” It is evaluated that the inevitable fight between the two famous retailers to become’No. 1 in e-commerce (e-commerce)’ has begun.
“Enough interest” vs “seriously review”
At the regular shareholders’ meeting held at the E-Mart headquarters in Seongsu-dong, CEO Kang Hee-seok said, “We are looking into eBay Korea seriously, like our competitors. I think you can understand it in context,” he explained.
E-Mart is showing a firm determination by hiring JP Morgan as an acquisition advisor. “CEO Kang makes detailed plans for the takeover and integration after the takeover and sends it to Vice Chairman Jeong Yong-jin from time to time” (Shinsegae official) preparing for the takeover war. If eBay Korea, which operates Gmarket, Auction, and G9 (estimated 20 trillion won in transaction amount at the end of last year), E-Mart’s online transaction amount will increase to 24 trillion won, including SSG.com (3,923.6 billion won at the end of last year).
E-Mart also signed a stake exchange contract with Naver on the 16th, worth 150 billion won (250 billion won if Shinsegae International is included). SSG.com’s entry into Naver Shopping is a great opportunity to grow its appearance. In this regard, SSG.com announced on the same day that it will start trial operation of the open market from the 20th of next month and provide a formal service in the first half of the year. Like Gmarket and 11th Street, it plans to operate’SSG Partners’, a platform exclusively for sellers (sellers).
Shinsegae Group’s e-commerce strategy, which has been revealed so far, is to rise to the No. 1 in the industry by running SSG.com, Gmarket, and Auction at the same time on the’Naver’s Back’. An official from the investment banking (IB) industry said, “Shinsegae will dominate the market by increasing the appearance (transaction amount) of e-commerce as much as possible, and at the same time providing a’borderless consumption channel’ through combination with offline stores such as E-Mart, which Coupang does not have. I will be drawing pictures.”
Kakao, Possibility to Participate in the Bid
Lotte Shopping is also showing its willingness not to step back from e-commerce Daejeon by taking over the management rights of Secondhand Nara, the number one used trading platform in Korea (about 5 trillion won in transaction value) through a fund. When Lotte Group acquires eBay Korea, it will reach a total of 33 trillion won, including Lotte On and Used Nara.
It is known that the Lotte Group will soon select an acquisition advisory company and begin to take over eBay Korea in earnest. An official from the IB industry said, “What Lotte is looking at is the vast shopping data and developer manpower possessed by Gmarket and Auction, which are the originators of the domestic open market.”
Lotte and Shinsegae are among the leading takeover candidates, but other competitors are also uncomfortable. Kakao, who did not participate in the preliminary bidding, is one of them. An official from the IB industry said, “Goldman Sachs, the sales organizer, is famous for competing until the end to increase the selling price.”
MBK Partners, which operates Homeplus, is also a competitor that cannot be ignored. However, if strategic investors such as Shinsegae Lotte and other strategic investors (SIs) raise prices by scrambling each other, financial investors (FIs) such as MBK are likely to back down.
Q10, who participated in the preliminary bidding, is also subject to courtesy. Q10, a company founded in Singapore in 2010, is an online shopping mall started in the form of a joint venture between Gmarket founder Koo Young-bae and eBay. An official in the e-commerce industry said, “I know that the founder of Koo Young-bae has long been eager to collect the G-Market.”
Reporter Park Dong-hui [email protected]