Naver Sells Half Stake in Giant Step... "Part of Asset Securitization"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] Naver is selling half of its stake in the visual effects (VFX) specialist company Giant Step.

According to industry sources on the 20th, Naver plans to sell 800,000 shares, half of its 1.6 million shares in Giant Step, through a block deal (off-hours large volume trade). The sale amount is 15.7 billion KRW. A 6.5% discount was applied compared to Giant Step's closing price the previous day.

Naver purchased shares in Giant Step in 2020 for financial and strategic investment purposes. At that time, it invested 7 billion KRW, and within two years, it earned more than double the profit by selling only half of the shares. A Naver official explained, "We realized profits while partially liquidating some assets."

Some interpret that Naver is pushing this stake sale to expedite the acquisition of Poshmark. Naver had planned to complete the 2.3 trillion KRW acquisition of Poshmark by the first quarter of next year but now intends to finalize the acquisition by next month.

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