이 기사는 2022년 02월 28일 08:09 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

A sale of South Korea’s organic fresh food vendor Chorocmaeul is attracting strong interest, with several potential buyers jumping into the race.

The winner of the race is expected to be finalized by early March, according to industry sources on Thursday. The country’s supermarket chain Emart Everyday, fresh food delivery platform Market Kurly operator Kurly, delivery platform operator Barogo and fresh meat deliverer Jeongyookgak have submitted letters of intent to the sale manager Citigroup Global Markets Securities.

The seller reportedly wanted the deal to stay out of the limelight as the third-generation Daesang Group’s controlling family will divest their assets through the sale. Daesang Holdings owns the largest 49.1% of Chorocmaeul. Lim Se-ryung, Daesang Holdings vice chairwoman and owner family heiress holds 30.17% and her sister Lim Sang-min has 20.25%.

Many potential buyers have started to pay attention to the sale since late last year. The company reportedly didn’t expect the sale to receive such strong response from the market.

Market insiders had believed Chorocmaeul to face difficulties finding its new owner given that the company has continued to report losses since 2018 while other e-commerce players show rapid growth.

Among potential buyers, Kurly, Jeongyookgak and Barogo are paying attention to Chorocmaeul’s strong presence in the offline market.

Chorocmaeul operates more than 400 offline stores nationwide, which can be used as delivery bases. Domestic e-commerce firms are trying to expand their service to cover more customers across the country.

Emart Everyday reportedly believes Chorocmaeul’s poor profitability can be improved by streamlining its distribution process. Large retailers like Emart can solve this problem by dealing directly with manufacturers, skipping intermediaries.

The price tag of Chorocmaeul is estimated to be around 100 billion won ($83 million). (Reporting by Byung-keun Kam)