'Oasis' Selected as Tmon Acquirer... Acquisition of Tmon for 11.6 Billion KRW

Oasis Selected as Final Preferred Bidder for TMON Acquisition
Actual Purchase Price Estimated at 18.1 Billion KRW

Oasis, the operator of Oasis Market, a fresh food dawn delivery specialist, has been tentatively selected as the acquirer of TMON. This comes about seven months after TMON initiated corporate rehabilitation proceedings in September last year.

On the 14th, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court announced that Oasis was chosen as the final prospective acquirer of TMON. The acquisition price is 11.6 billion KRW through a 100% new share subscription method. Additionally, employee employment will be guaranteed for the next five years.

Oasis plans to inject additional operating funds to repay unpaid wages and retirement benefit public claims (3 billion KRW) and retirement benefit liabilities (3.5 billion KRW). Considering this, the actual acquisition price is around 18.1 billion KRW.

A representative from Oasis Market stated, "Since Oasis Market has pursued logistics efficiency to the highest level through direct purchase sales, we plan to maximize synergy by adding logistics competitiveness to TMON, which has operated mainly as an open market. Once the rehabilitation plan is approved, we will repay the rehabilitation claims with the acquisition funds according to the approved repayment plan and inject additional operating funds to quickly normalize the company."

Founded in 2011, Oasis operates Oasis Market, a fresh food dawn delivery specialist company. Launched in 2018, Oasis Market is considered a company maintaining a relatively stable profit structure. Despite the downturn in the distribution industry last year, it improved profitability through business structure efficiency. Last year, its annual operating profit was 22.9 billion KRW, up 72% from the previous year; sales were 517.1 billion KRW, up 9%; and net profit was 22.8 billion KRW, up 66%. All three indicators marked record highs on an annual basis.

Recently, Oasis Market has been pursuing the acquisition of TMON to expand its online commerce business. Although it maintains a stable profit structure, its scale is small compared to competitors with annual sales exceeding 2 trillion KRW, leading to speculation that it will pursue an initial public offering (IPO) to grow in size. Previously, Oasis attempted to list on KOSDAQ in 2023 but the plan was canceled. A representative from Oasis Market explained, "We understand that TMON has held meetings with several companies over a long period for acquisition. We also considered the decision to acquire in order to maintain the legacy of a native e-commerce company as a small and medium-sized enterprise."

TMON must submit its rehabilitation plan to the court by the 15th of next month. Afterwards, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court will hold a creditors' meeting around June, and if the rehabilitation plan is approved, Oasis will officially become the new owner of TMON. The manager from TMON expects that if the rehabilitation plan is approved, the repayment rate to general rehabilitation creditors will be about 0.8%.