SSG.com Merger Synergy Expansion Strategy... Corporate Value Expected to Reach 10 Trillion KRW
Market Kurly and Oasis Also Accelerate IPOs in First Half of Next Year
[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Chung Yong-jin, Vice Chairman of Shinsegae Group, who completed the acquisition of eBay Korea, is hastening the IPO of SSG.com, the group's retail platform. This is interpreted as a strategy to raise a large-scale fund of about 10 trillion won to enhance the synergy of the merger between SSG.com and eBay Korea and to secure market dominance.
SSG.com Valued at 10 Trillion Won
According to the e-commerce industry on the 10th, SSG.com has advanced the expected timing of its IPO, originally anticipated in 2023, by more than a year, aiming for the first half of next year, and has recently been in contact with multiple securities firms. It is known that it will send Requests for Proposal (RFP) to major securities companies this week to select an underwriter as early as this week.
SSG.com attracted an investment of about 1 trillion won in 2018 from the offshore investment management firm Affinity Equity Partners and BlueRun Ventures (BRV), presenting conditions such as pursuing an IPO within five years and achieving sales of 10 trillion won. Although there is still time to achieve these goals, after Shinsegae Emart succeeded in acquiring eBay Korea in June, the IPO schedule was advanced to expand synergy effects.
SSG.com’s sales surged from 840 billion won in 2019 to 1.29 trillion won the following year, driven by the increase in same-day delivery (Sseuk Delivery) and dawn delivery services. Operating losses decreased from 83 billion won to 47 billion won. During the same period, the domestic dawn delivery market grew about threefold from 800 billion won to 2.5 trillion won in one year. The investment banking industry expects SSG.com’s corporate value to reach up to 10 trillion won.
Dawn Delivery Big Three IPO Competition
Following SSG.com’s move, competitors such as Market Kurly and Oasis Market are also busy with IPO activities.
Kurly, which operates Market Kurly, has shifted from pursuing a U.S. stock market listing to a domestic listing and is currently selecting underwriters aiming for an IPO in the first half of next year. The company explained that this decision came after carefully reviewing various conditions such as the business model and domestic and international stock market situations. It appears that, amid intensifying competition in the domestic dawn delivery market, they judged that growing their size quickly through a domestic listing is better than a risky overseas listing.
Oasis Market has selected NH Investment & Securities and Korea Investment & Securities as underwriters since last year and is proceeding with related procedures aiming for late this year to early next year. They are steadily expanding their scale by securing continuous investments, expanding logistics centers, and broadening service areas.
As the three major dawn delivery companies coincidentally aim to enter the stock market around the same time, competition to attract customers and secure market share is expected to intensify further into a race to increase their valuations.
A retail industry official said, "Unlike offline marts that suffered from COVID-19 over the past year, online retail, especially dawn delivery, has rapidly grown by prioritizing customer convenience and safety, and recently each company has been expanding delivery areas. To compete with platforms like Coupang, which raised large-scale investments through a U.S. stock market listing, or those emphasizing instant delivery, they judged that now is the time to quickly go public to secure large-scale funding," he explained.
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