Shinsegae’s Emart signs deal to acquire 80% eBay Korea stake for ₩3.4 trillion

Shinsegae, Emart’s parent company, was the final winner in the bid to acquire the Korean unit of the e-commerce platform eBay. Although at first, the company formed a consortium with Naver to win in the bidding, the tech company backed out at the last minute.

Still, Shinsegae’s Emart went on with the bid, and now it was reported to have already signed an agreement with eBay Inc. for the acquisition of an 80% stake in the company’s unit in Korea. It was mentioned that the deal is worth ₩3.4 trillion or around $3.05 billion.

A big shift in the e-commerce market in Korea

As per Yonhap News Agency, Shisegae reached an agreement with the American e-commerce company, and it will now have most of the controlling rights in eBay Korea. It was reported that the acquisition deal is still hinged on the Bank of Korea's (BOK) acceptance of a foreign exchange transaction.

Based on the information provided by eBay, the deal can be completed by the end of the year or early 2022. This is because the regulatory approvals are still pending. Once Shinsegae’s purchase is cleared, it will also benefit from other e-commerce companies such as Auction and Gmarket as they also operate through eBay Korea.

It was also predicted that Shinsegae’s Emart’s purchase of eBay will push a big shift in Korea’s e-commerce market and will be Coupang’s main rival from now on. The retail shopping company is also targeting to beat Naver that has its own e-commerce platform as well.

The stakes arrangement between Shinsegae and eBay

Originally, after Shinsegae acquired 80% of eBay Korea, Naver was supposed to get the remaining 20% for a full acquisition of the platform. However, since the latter has withdrawn its bid, eBay’s HQ in the U.S. will retain the remaining percentage, Pulse News reported.

It was added that this deal is marked as the largest M&A deal that was pursued by the Shinsegae Group. It is a good decision on Shinsegae’s part since it will now become the second-largest player in the local e-commerce market, besting Coupang. Naver is in the first place, but there is a chance for this ranking to change in the future, depending on how eBay Korea will do in the market from now on.