Corpus Korea to Merge with DB Financial SPAC No.7... Entering KOSDAQ in December

Leap to a Comprehensive Hallyu Content Company through Content Business Expansion
Establishing a Dominant Position in the Japanese OTT Market

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Oh Youngseop, CEO of Corpus Korea, held a press conference on the 3rd in Yeouido, Seoul, expressing his aspirations for listing on the KOSDAQ market.

Corpus Korea will be listed on the KOSDAQ market next month through a merger listing with DB Financial SPAC No.7. The merger price is 2,000 KRW, and the merger ratio is 1 to 52.65. The shareholders' meeting for merger approval will be held on the 9th, and the total number of issued shares after the merger will be 34,305,674 shares.

Corpus Korea secures domestic drama and entertainment broadcasting rights and distributes them to the Japanese market. They handle not only subtitles but also music copyright processing, which could be problematic in the Japanese market, by themselves. They have supplied Hallyu content to major Japanese broadcasters, online video service (OTT) platform companies.

Representative works supplied by Corpus Korea include 'Gumiho-dyeon', 'Goblin', 'The Legend of the Blue Sea', 'Daegun', '100 Days My Prince', and 'Prison Playbook'. They have supplied a cumulative total of 477 titles and 9,216 episodes, recording the number one market share.

The OTT market in Japan is rapidly growing due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). CEO Oh Youngseop explained, "Globally, the consumption pattern of video content is rapidly shifting to broadcasting or OTT," and "even in the Japanese market where DVD usage rates are higher than OTT usage rates, the OTT market is expanding due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

CEO Oh added, "The Japanese OTT platform market maintains a solid market share by Japanese OTT platforms rather than global OTT operators like Netflix," and "Corpus Korea holds a high market share not only in major native Japanese OTT platforms but also in global OTT platforms within Japan."

CEO Oh emphasized, "Although the distribution business structure may seem simple, due to the characteristics of the Japanese OTT market, it is necessary to build a close trust relationship," and "copyright and various delivery specifications required by clients must be met during broadcasting or OTT services to be able to distribute."

In the past, many domestic companies attempted to distribute Hallyu content to Japan but failed due to cultural differences, lack of understanding of copyrights, and inexperience with local operations. Corpus Korea was able to meet the requirements of local Japanese clients by possessing in-house subtitle production, copyright processing, and high-quality video editing technology.

Corpus Korea plans to continuously secure new Hallyu content and newly distribute K-webtoon and K-web novel content. They are expanding their business areas by utilizing Hallyu intellectual property (IP) and developing their own IP through drama production.

CEO Oh introduced, "Based on Hallyu dramas that had high recognition in Japan, we plan to expand content genres to remake dramas, webtoons, and web novels," and "we are in close consultation with domestic broadcasters and Japanese animation production companies."

He continued, "Corpus has signed contracts with numerous famous domestic writers and directors since 2017 to develop original IP," emphasizing, "a drama by writer Son Eunhye, who wrote love stories such as Harvard and Witch's Love, will be broadcast on terrestrial TV stations next year."

Corpus Korea plans to use the funds raised from this merger for investment related to securing content rights and developing its own IP.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.