이 기사는 2021년 11월 25일 08:06 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Tving, the streaming service of South Korea’s media and entertainment giant CJ ENM, has shortlisted private equity investors interested in acquiring a minority stake in the company.

Among the shortlisted bidders are a consortium of Mirae Asset Capital and Mirae Asset Global Investments, Woori Private Equity, a consortium of KDB Investment and Hana Financial Investment, and Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area, according to sources.

Up until the bidders have been shortlisted, it was widely predicted that the final round of bidding would become a competition dominated by homegrown private equity firms after several foreign investment firms pulled out at the beginning of the bidding process. But it turned out that some global names have been included in the shortlist, including Goldman Sachs PIA.

Tving plans to raise about 300 billion won ($253 million) through this pre-initial public offering funding. Nomura Securities is advising the streamer on the funding.

The shortlisted bidders have started to conduct detailed due diligence, which is expected to continue over the next five to six weeks. Tving and Nomura Securities are expected to receive final bids as soon as December.

One of the key things to watch is whether Tving and potential investors could reach an agreement on the company’s valuation. Tving is said to be seeking a valuation of about 1.5 trillion won.

Tving has also been in discussions separately with prospective foreign strategic investors, which could create synergies in its overseas expansion.

Tving’s domestic strategic partners include Naver, which invested 40 billion won to acquire a 15.4% stake in the streamer in June this year in a deal that made the internet giant the second largest shareholder after CJ ENM, the parent company of Tving.

There are views that Tving could become less eager to search for a foreign strategic partner after the announcement by CJ ENM to acquire Endeavor Content. The streamer’s parent company last week signed a deal to buy 80% of the US-based production company along with its large volume of original content and intellectual property.

This could make Tving more focus on securing funds from financial investors, industry watchers said. (Reporting by Seon-young Kim)