Naver, Shinsegae reportedly teaming up to buy eBay Korea

Naver Corporation and Shinsegae are reportedly joining forces to acquire eBay Korea that was put up for sale earlier this year. It was said that the South Korean engineering and online portal firm headquartered in Seongnam has made a suggestion to the retail giant and proposed to jointly bid for the acquisition of the Korean unit of eBay.

Formation of consortium proposal

Korea Economic Daily reported that the companies are considering the creation of a consortium to purchase eBay Korea which is now the nation’s third-largest e-commerce platform with an estimated value of $4.4 billion or around ₩5 trillion.

This information was shared by sources from the investment banking sector on Wednesday, May 19. If the deal between Naver Corp. and Shinsegae pushes through, it was said that the latter is likely to seek a majority stake in the acquisition of eBay Korea. Naver may have the remaining 20% and with an agreement to co-manage the e-commerce site.

Shinsegae is one of the final candidates to acquire eBay and the others who made it to the shortlist include Lotte, private equity firm MBK Partners and SK Telecom Co. For this deal, eBay Inc., headquartered in California, is offering a 100% stake for its Korean unit.

In any case, it was also reported that SK Telecom and MBK Partner are also considering teaming up for the deal just as Naver and Shinsegae are planning. It was stated that the latter two firms are trying to gain the upper hand against the growing e-commerce players like Coupang.

Naver and Shinsegae going after Coupang

Naver and Shinsegae have a strong alliance already as they started to work together in strengthening their logistics and distribution business. The two are said to be further developing their ventures to go against Coupang that is now a big player in the same market that Shinsegae and Naver are involved in.

Business Korea reported in March that Naver purchased shares in Shinsegae International and E-Mart to fortify its partnership with the Shinsegae Group. Since then, they have made plans for future new ventures in online and offline businesses. Meanwhile, if Naver and Shinsegae will successfully form a consortium and win in the race to acquire eBay Korea, there is no doubt that they will become the no. 1 player in the online retail market in the country.