Nexon founder to sell controlling stake in gaming co's holding firm - Korea Economic Daily (updated)

Netmarble

03/01/2019 01:41

(Added share moves and analyst comment)
    SEOUL, Jan 3 (Reuters) - The founder of South Korean gaming
company Nexon  3659.T  is set to sell a controlling stake worth
around $9 billion in Nexon's holding firm NXC Corp, the Korea
Economic Daily newspaper reported on Thursday. 
    The value of the stake up for sale was estimated at 10
trillion won ($8.9 billion), the paper said, citing unidentified
industry sources.
    Nexon is listed on the Tokyo stock market.
    Shares of Nexon affiliates including Nexon GT Co Ltd
 041140.KQ  and Nat Games Co Ltd  225570.KQ  jumped as much as
30 percent on the media report. 
    Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley have been selected to
manage the sale, the report said.
    Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley were not immediately
available for comment. 
    The potential buyers include domestic industry rivals Kakao
Corp  035720.KS  and Netmarble Corp  251270.KS , as well as
Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd  0700.HK  and U.S. video
game publisher Electronic Arts Inc  EA.O , the newspaper
reported. citing unnamed industry sources. 
    "As the value of the company's stake will be enormous, there
will be very limited buyers with the ability to purchase Nexon,"
said Oh Dong-hwan, an analyst at Samsung Securities. 
    NXC Corp spokeswoman declined to comment. 
    Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju would sell a total of 98.64
percent stake in NXC Corp held by himself and related parties
including his wife, according to the media report. 

    ($1 = 1,121.5000 won)

 (Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Richard Pullin and
Stephen Coates)
 ((Heekyong.Yang@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5647; Reuters
Messaging: heekyong.yang.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))