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By Park Jae-hyuk
Lotte Group and major private equity firms (PEFs) here and overseas did not participate in Wednesday's preliminary bidding to acquire Danawa, turning the race for the Kosdaq-listed e-commerce company into a domestic competition, according to industry sources, Friday.
Before the preliminary bidding concluded, IMM Private Equity, SkyLake Equity Partners and JKL Partners were regarded as the strongest candidates to buy the first-generation e-commerce firm specialized in comparing the prices of computer parts. KKR, one of the largest shareholders of TMON, was also mentioned as a potential buyer.
The PEFs initially considered joining hands with Lotte Group or one of the three big mobile carriers here to acquire a controlling 51.3 percent stake in Danawa for at least 205 billion won ($172 million) from its major shareholders.
But after domestic conglomerates decided not to acquire Danawa over a disagreement with the seller about its price, the competition lost steam, prompting the PEFs to stay out of the acquisition deal as well.
KG Group and Koreacenter are currently mentioned as the only two companies to have offered preliminary bids. They have been seeking lately to expand their businesses through aggressive M&As.
KG once considered acquiring Interpark, another e-commerce company put up for sale. It has shown a keen interest in the industry to create a synergy effect with its online payment service provider, KG Inicis.
Koreacenter is the nation's second-tier provider of services needed to establish online shopping websites. After its 2018 acquisition of the price comparison service provider Summerce Platform, Koreacenter has been seeking to expand its presence in the sector.
NH Investment & Securities, the underwriter for the Danawa acquisition deal, is expected to shortlist qualified buyers this month.
Additionally, Interpark will also announce its new owner in the near future, as the preliminary bidding for its acquisition took place in August. The Kosdaq-listed e-commerce firm has been looking for a buyer for a 28.4 percent stake put up for sale by its largest shareholder, after hiring NH Investment & Securities as the adviser for the deal.
Given that Interpark has had a large market share in the nation's tourism sector, Good Choice Company and Trip.com have been viewed as potential buyers. Good Choice, operator of the Yeogi Eottae hotel booking app, has sought to go after the field's bellwether, Yanolja, through the acquisition, while Singapore-headquartered Trip.com is trying to increase its share in the domestic market.
The Interpark deal, however, also failed to attract the conglomerates that had been mentioned initially as potential buyers, as Yanolja, NHN, Kakao and Lotte did not participate in the preliminary bidding.
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