SK Telecom, Shinsegae Group among bidders for eBay's Korean business -sources (updated)

SK Telecom Co

16/03/2021 08:35

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    By Joyce Lee
    SEOUL, March 16 (Reuters) - South Korea's SK Telecom
 017670.KS , retailer Shinsegae Group and private equity firm
MBK Partners were among those that entered non-binding,
preliminary bids for the sale of eBay Inc's  EBAY.O  South
Korean business, the telecom company and two sources with
knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. 
    EBay Korea operates open market e-commerce platforms
Gmarket, Auction and G9, and was South Korea's third-largest
e-commerce firm in 2020 with 12.8% market share, according to
Euromonitor. 
    The sources declined to be identified as not authorised to
talk to media. MBK Partners, Shinsegae Group and eBay Korea
declined to comment. 
    Seoul-based analysts said that eBay hopes to fetch up to 5
trillion won (S4.42 billion) with the sale. 
    However, they said the actual sale price may be lower, due
to its recent drop in market share compared to rivals such as
Korea's No. 1 e-commerce firm Coupang  CPNG.N , and
disadvantages of the unit's traditional "open market" form of
e-commerce which simply connects sellers with buyers. 
    EBay Korea's market share has been overtaken in recent years
by Coupang, which directly handles inventory, differentiated
itself with speedy delivery and raised around $4.6 billion in a
blockbuster New York listing earlier this month, as well as
Naver Corp  035420.KS , which operates South Korea's dominant
online search portal. 
    EBay Korea's 2020 revenue was estimated to be about 1.3
trillion won, with a 5.3% on-year increase in transactions,
compared to a 19% growth in South Korean e-commerce market, KTB
Investment & Securities analyst Kim Jin-woo said. 

 (Reporting by Joyce Lee, editing by Louise Heavens)
 ((jungyoon.lee@tr.com; +82 2 6936 1467;))