[Exclusive] Yes24 Abruptly Withdraws Sale of KakaoBank Shares Worth 100 Billion Won

Aiming for Greater Capital Gains Amid Soaring KakaoBank Corporate Value

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Yes24 has abruptly halted its recent plan to sell its stake in KakaoBank. This appears to be an attempt to seek greater capital gains as KakaoBank's value has skyrocketed.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 20th, Yes24 decided yesterday to withdraw the sale of its KakaoBank shares. After distributing the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and Request for Proposal (RFP) on the 12th and receiving letters of intent by 6 p.m. on the 16th, the company decided to cancel the sale within a week. Although the transaction was expected to exceed 100 billion KRW, the decision was made to gain larger capital gains as KakaoBank’s value steadily increased ahead of its anticipated listing as early as July.

Originally, Yes24 had been pursuing the disposal of its KakaoBank shares since January this year. At that time, Yes24 offered part of its existing 5,681,393 shares (1.40% stake) based on a corporate valuation of 11.21 trillion KRW for about 50 billion KRW. However, the market considered this price too high, and the deal did not materialize. Meanwhile, KakaoBank recorded an operating profit of 122.6 billion KRW last year, turning fully profitable, and with its planned listing this year, its corporate value soared. This led to renewed efforts to pursue the transaction this month.

Nevertheless, as KakaoBank’s over-the-counter (OTC) stock price continued to rise, Yes24 appears to have halted the sale abruptly to aim for greater capital gains. According to the OTC stock trading platform Securities Plus Unlisted, as of the letter of intent submission deadline on the 16th, KakaoBank’s OTC stock price rose to 94,500 KRW. Based on this, the market capitalization is estimated at 38.5232 trillion KRW, more than three times the corporate value anticipated during the January transaction.

The sudden halt of the transaction within a short period has caused surprise in the industry. An IB industry official said, "This transaction did not even provide an investment memorandum (IM) separately and simply presented the volume, receiving payment plans, which seemed like a bidding competition saying ‘contact us if you want to buy.’ There were even buyers willing to pay over 22 trillion KRW, more than double the previous corporate value of 11 trillion KRW, so I did not expect the transaction itself to be canceled like this," he revealed.

Following the withdrawal of the sale, Yes24’s stock price is also expected to fluctuate again. Previously, Yes24’s stock price began to plunge after news of the KakaoBank stake sale surfaced. After hitting a record high of 21,500 KRW during trading on the 12th and maintaining the 19,000 KRW range until the 15th, the stock dropped more than 16% in a single day on the 16th when the sale news intensified, closing at 16,000 KRW.