SK C&C eyes Chinese market

By Kim Yoo-chul

SK C&C, the Internet business arm of SK Group, has acquired a Chinese electronic commerce provider as it looks to penetrate further into the fast-growing market.

In a statement released Sunday, the company said it spent 2.26 billion won to purchase 42 percent of the Hubei-based Yunong E-Commerce.

``The deal will help us maintain our Chinese business in a stable manner,’’ an SK C&C spokeswoman said.

``The latest acquisition will pave the way for us to accelerate our efforts to seek ways to haul ourselves out of the saturated local market and expand overseas with China leading the way.’’

The Korean firm plans to expand the number of its e-commerce partners inside Hubei Province to 500 by the end of this year and SK C&C said that the number will reach 55,000 by 2016.

She added SK C&C plans to begin e-commerce business in major rural cities in China from 2017.

The acquisition comes after leading technology companies like Google, Samsung and Microsoft, as well as banks, are increasing their investments for bigger pieces in the fast-growing e-commerce and even m-commerce markets.

SK C&C still believes China lacks technology infrastructure and the company is in talks with major Chinese telecom companies to sell them its systems and solutions, though it has so far seen marginal results.