이 기사는 2021년 08월 12일 08시05분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

South Korean game publisher Netmarble offloaded its shares in KakaoBank to finance its acquisition of social casino game company SpinX.

Netmarble said in its regulatory filing Tuesday that it sold six million shares in KakaoBank for 430.2 billion won ($372 million) in total. Netmarble now has around 900 million shares, or a 1.92% stake in the internet-only bank. “The sale was made to secure liquidity and financial soundness,” said an official at Netmarble.

Netmarble sold off the shares during the regular trading hours instead of selling them via a block deal. The sale stopped KakaoBank’s rally since its stock market debut on Friday to finish 9.04% lower on Tuesday at 71,400 won.

Netmarble made the move to secure cash after the South Korean gaming company agreed to acquire 100% of SpinX for $2.19 billion (2.5 trillion won) earlier this month. Netmarble said it will take a short-term loan worth about 1.78 trillion won – nearly 71% of the cost – to fund its acquisition of SpinX while using its cash on hand to pay the rest.

Netmarble will pay 80% of the deal value, including the down payment on the expected closing date and the remaining 20% will be paid over the next four years.
The gaming company needs around 2.01 trillion won to fund the acquisition, which means it needs 231.8 billion won more in cash, excluding the short-term loan. The company had cash-equivalents assets worth 1.49 trillion won on a consolidated basis in the first quarter, but had only 235.8 billion won on a non-consolidated basis.

Netmarble had to secure additional money to cover financial expenses while its total debt exceeded 1 trillion won at the end of the first quarter.

Netmarble decided to offload shares of KakaoBank among other listed companies it invested in as the bank is less related to the gaming company’s business. Netmarble bought a stake in NCSoft in February 2015 and KakaoBank in February 2016. It invested in Kakao Games in February 2018 and HYBE, formerly Big Hit Entertainment, in April 2018. It purchased a stake in Coway in February 2020.

Netmarble is highly likely to collaborate with its peers like NCSoft and Kakao Games in the gaming business. The gaming company has strong relationship with NCSoft as NCSoft and Netmarble joined hands to counter a move by Nexon during the dispute over management in 2015.

HYBE’s founder and chief executive Bang Si-hyuk is Netmarble chairman Bang Jun-hyuk’s relative. Netmarble practically can’t offload its stake in Coway as it acquired a controlling stake in the company to diversify its business.

Netmarble invested 95.6 billion won to acquire a stake in KakaoBank. The company already retrieved some of its invested capital and the remaining stake in the lender is expected to give the company a return of 1038%. Its investments in HYBE, Kakao Games and NCSoft have also generated returns of 1003%, 438%, and 306%, respectively.

An official at Netmarble said the company is not considering any additional stake sale. (Reporting by Seul-gi Kim)