이 기사는 2021년 03월 18일 09시40분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

The sale of eBay Korea has attracted strong attention from industry players as the competition gets tougher in the ecommerce market.

The company received non-binding offers from retail giant Lotte Group, Emart, a discount store chain affiliated with retail conglomerate Shinsegae Group, and the country’s number one mobile carrier SK Telecom on Tuesday, industry sources said.

Singapore-based Qoo10 also reportedly showed interest in the company. Qoo10 chief executive officer Ku Young-bae is a co-founder of online shopping mall Interpark and established Gmarket in 2003, which was sold to eBay Korea.

MBK Partners is the only private equity firm in the race. KKR and Carlyle were initially named as potential buyers, but they decided not to submit offers.

Industry watchers were less sure about whether the company will receive sufficient interest because of its high price tag.

But the situation has changed after Coupang made a successful debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Threatened by the rise of Coupang, strategic investors started to take a closer look at eBay Korea.

Strategic investors are likely to seek financial investors to reduce the funding burden rather than trying to buy the target on their own. Some of them also could decide to withdraw after due diligence. They are likely to approach financial investors that previously worked with them.

Stake in Kakao Bank excluded from sale

EBay Korea's 3.74% stake in Kakao Bank was excluded from the sale. The company's U.S. headquarters is likely to acquire the stake.

The company purchased the stake for 12 billion won in 2016, and participated in two rounds of rights offerings in 2017 and 2018 to avoid share dilution.

Kakao Bank raised 1 trillion won from investors late 2020 at a 8.58 trillion won valuation. This increased the value of the stake owned by eBay Korea to 350 billion won, six times the amount the company paid for the bank, although its stake was slightly diluted from 3.94% to 3.74%.

EBay headquarters apparently decided to exclude the stake from the deal to capitalize on the growth potential of the online bank.

Kakao Bank plans to list on the nation’s main bourse Kospi in the second half of this year. It is considered one of the biggest IPOs in 2021. The bank was valued at 40 trillion won in the over-the-counter market in the second half of last year.

But the decision may weaken interest in eBay Korea. “Excluding the stake is likely to have an impact on the eBay Korea’s valuation,” said an industry insider. (Reporting by Hee-yeon Han and Se-hun Jo)