Shinsegae Group will spend about KRW 1.2 trillion to acquire the entire stake in e-commerce company SSG.com held by its financial investor (FI).

On the 11th, Emart and Shinsegae announced in a regulatory filing that they would purchase all shares held by the special purpose company (SPC) “Olympus Jeil-cha,” which owns a 30% stake in SSG.com. The two companies will exercise a call option on the FI and divide the acquired stake in proportion to their existing shareholding in SSG.com.

Emart currently holds 45.6% of SSG.com, while Shinsegae holds 24.4%. Once the transaction is completed, Emart’s stake will rise to 65.1% and Shinsegae’s to 34.9%. Emart will acquire 857,036 shares for KRW 827.5 billion, and Shinsegae will acquire 459,456 shares for KRW 443.6 billion. The total acquisition amount is KRW 1.2711 trillion. The scheduled share acquisition date is August 26. Shinsegae Group plans to fund the acquisition using in-house reserves and other internal resources.

Since establishing SSG.com in 2018, Shinsegae Group has attracted investment from private equity firms Affinity Equity Partners and BRV Capital. The private equity firm that secured a 30% stake in SSG.com moved to exit its investment, and in November 2024, Olympus Jeil-cha emerged as a new FI and acquired the stake. Olympus Jeil-cha is a special purpose company formed with participation from six banks, including KDB Korea Development Bank, Shinhan Bank, and NH Investment & Securities, and four securities companies.

At the time, Emart and Shinsegae secured the right to exercise a call option on the FI’s entire stake 18 months after the contract date. As this deadline approached, the two companies explained that they decided to acquire the shares to simplify SSG.com’s governance structure and to pursue the e-commerce business more efficiently. The retail industry assesses that this move completely removes the possibility of IPO pressure from the FI on SSG.com, and that the corporate value of Emart and Shinsegae, which hold stakes in SSG.com, is also expected to increase.

Popular News