"Naver Dropped Out" ... Emart's Exclusive Bid for eBay Korea Acquisition

Vice Chairman Jeong Yong-jin: "Even if the acquisition cost is high, the subsequent synergy will be greater"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] With Lotte Group effectively giving up on the acquisition and Naver, which had formed a consortium with Shinsegae Group's E-Mart, declaring its withdrawal, only E-Mart remains alone in the heated bidding war for eBay Korea. E-Mart plans to finalize the acquisition negotiations independently.

"We will definitely buy, negotiations are ongoing"

An E-Mart official said on the 23rd, "Even though Naver is not participating in the acquisition of eBay Korea, the sale negotiations are still ongoing," adding, "However, since the terms of the deal have changed, the negotiations may be somewhat delayed." They also mentioned that since there is no separate deadline for the sale, negotiations can continue according to the agreement between eBay and Shinsegae.

Through a disclosure the previous day, Naver stated, "We considered acquiring a portion of eBay Korea's shares to strengthen business competitiveness, but ultimately decided not to participate." This conclusion came just a week after responding on the 17th in an inquiry disclosure that they were "considering the acquisition of eBay Korea."

According to industry sources, unlike E-Mart, which initially planned to acquire eBay Korea together with Naver to seek platform synergy, eBay reportedly preferred to proceed with the acquisition negotiations through bilateral talks with E-Mart rather than the E-Mart-Naver consortium.

Naver also reviewed specific plans such as investing about 1 trillion KRW on the condition of acquiring 20% of eBay Korea's shares in partnership with E-Mart, but ultimately judged that the synergy effect after acquisition would not be significant. Additionally, the requirement to undergo the Fair Trade Commission's corporate merger review seemed to be a burden for Naver.

E-Mart vs eBay, price tug-of-war

Despite Naver's withdrawal, E-Mart has expressed a strong will to acquire eBay Korea. E-Mart proposed acquiring 80% of eBay Korea's shares from eBay for 3.5 trillion KRW, but eBay is reportedly demanding a higher price for the shares, leading to an ongoing price tug-of-war.

Internal disagreements over whether the acquisition price is excessively high have also been resolved. It is said that Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin personally stepped in, emphasizing, "If the synergy after acquisition is greater than the acquisition price, then buying (eBay Korea) is the right choice."

An industry insider said, "(Vice Chairman Chung) has been pursuing bold M&A moves more than anyone else this year, acquiring a baseball team and the fashion platform W Concept, and even visiting Naver directly to sign a share exchange contract worth 250 billion KRW," adding, "Since he has personally taken up the challenge of acquiring eBay Korea, he is showing a strong determination to complete the acquisition."

Shinsegae also emphasized that regardless of the failure of the joint acquisition of eBay Korea, business cooperation between Shinsegae and Naver will continue. An E-Mart official said, "There is no change in the plan to establish an all-around cooperative system with Naver in areas such as logistics and commerce," adding, "We have already secured cash and cash equivalents through asset securitization, so there is no financial burden for a solo acquisition."

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