S.Korea retailer E-Mart to acquire 80% stake of eBay's S.Korean business for $3 bln (updated)

E-Mart

24/06/2021 08:51

(Adds background)
    SEOUL, June 24 (Reuters) - South Korean retailer Shinsegae
Group's E-Mart Inc  139480.KS  said on Thursday it plans to
acquire 80% stake of eBay Inc's  EBAY.O  South Korean business
for 3.4 trillion won ($3 billion), E-Mart said in a regulatory
filing. 
    EBay will retain a 20% interest in the Korean business,
whose implied value is approximately $3.8 billion, eBay said in
a statement. 
    The transaction is expected to close by year-end or early
next year, subject to regulatory approvals. 
    Naver Corp  035420.KS , which had previously participated in
the bidding process with E-Mart, said earlier this week it 
pulled out of the acquisition.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N2MK00K 
    EBay Korea, which was the leading e-commerce player in South
Korea until 2015, saw transaction growth slow starting in 2016
due to intensified competition from the likes of Coupang
 CPNG.N , the current No. 1 e-commerce firm, analysts said. 
    Although the growth rate of South Korea's online shopping
market reached 41% between 2018 and 2020, the estimated growth
rate of eBay Korea's transaction price was about 4%, Samsung
Securities analysts wrote in a report last week.
    However, the business was still attractive to traditional
retail giants including Shinsegae, which have struggled to build
a leading presence in online shopping, especially after the
onset of COVID-19. 
    EBay Korea operates the e-commerce platforms Gmarket,
Auction and G9, and is the country's third-largest e-commerce
firm with a market share of about 12.8% in 2020, according to
Euromonitor. 
    ($1 = 1,131.6800 won)

 (Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee; editing by Jason
Neely)
 ((Heekyong.Yang@thomsonreuters.com;))