[Exclusive] "Interpark Acquisition Battle" Joins 'Yogiote'... Three-Way Competition with Yanolja and Trip.com

Yanolja Joins Interpark Acquisition... OTA Companies Face Off
Strengthening Comprehensive Travel Platform Competitiveness "Possible Entry into Travel Booking and Ticketing Business"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] The second-largest travel and accommodation platform, "Yogi-otte," has entered the bidding for Interpark. With the leading travel and accommodation platform Yanolja showing strong intent to acquire Interpark, and China's top travel agency and the world's second-largest online travel platform Trip.com also participating, a three-way competition is likely to unfold. Essentially, a showdown among travel platforms (OTA: Online Travel Agencies) over Interpark is anticipated.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 26th, Yogi-otte has received the Interpark investment memorandum (IM) and is preparing to participate in the acquisition. Earlier, the sales agent NH Investment & Securities signed non-disclosure agreements (NDA) with potential candidates and distributed the IM. It has been confirmed that more than ten parties have received the IM. NH Investment & Securities will accept preliminary bids by the end of this month. Yogi-otte, Yanolja, and Trip.com are expected to participate, making it essentially a war among OTA industry players. Each is conducting due diligence and preparing thoroughly for the competition.

Yogi-otte believes that acquiring Interpark will significantly enhance the competitiveness of its platform business. The British private equity firm CVC Capital, which acquired Yogi-otte in 2019, also views the potential business synergy with Interpark positively, as it can employ the "Bolt-on" strategy. One of the main strategies for private equity funds (PEF) to generate profits is the Bolt-on strategy, which creates synergy through M&A with similar companies in related industries.

In May, Yogi-otte welcomed former CVC Capital Partners Korea office head Jung Myung-hoon as its new CEO and has been aggressively driving efforts to expand business competitiveness. CEO Jung, who is overseeing the Interpark acquisition, is highly regarded for his understanding of the platform industry. As the right person to accelerate corporate growth, he is reportedly determined to use Interpark as a springboard to propel Yogi-otte to new heights.

Yanolja's intent to acquire is also strong. As Yanolja has officially begun expanding its scale in preparation for a stock market listing, Interpark is naturally very attractive. Acquiring Interpark, which has a travel-specialized channel, would create high business synergy and accelerate its leap to a comprehensive travel platform. Recently, Yanolja secured 2 trillion KRW in funding from the SoftBank Vision Fund, equipping it with substantial financial resources.

Overseas, Trip.com is showing keen interest. Founded in 1999 as "Ctrip," Trip.com has grown into China's number one travel agency and was listed on the U.S. Nasdaq market in 2003. It currently partners with 1.2 million accommodation providers to offer reservation services and has contracts with about 480 airlines for ticketing operations. Its market share in China reaches 60%. Trip.com is believed to have a strategy to expand into the domestic travel reservation and ticketing market through acquiring Interpark.

Interpark is a first-generation domestic e-commerce platform with strengths in travel, tickets, and books. Although it became a hot topic as soon as it appeared on the market, interest somewhat cooled when iMarketKorea, which generates profits, was excluded from the sale. However, for OTA companies, it is considered an attractive asset that can significantly enhance competitiveness. An IB industry insider emphasized, "Acquiring Interpark will strengthen OTA companies' competitiveness as comprehensive travel platforms, and domestic companies will be able to newly enter the travel reservation and ticketing business. Additionally, Interpark's brand loyalty and the potential of its accumulated big data on ticket reservations will create synergy."

Meanwhile, the shares for sale in Interpark include 22.5 million shares (approximately 27.71% stake) held by the largest shareholder and CEO Lee Ki-hyung, along with shares held by related parties, totaling 23,063,595 shares (28.41% stake). The sale price is estimated to be between 150 billion and 200 billion KRW.

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