Securities Industry: "Naver Financial-Dunamu Merger Expected to Expand Influence in Virtual Asset Market"

With the merger of Naver Financial and Dunamu, a fintech (finance + technology) company with a scale of 20 trillion won is set to emerge. The securities industry expects that this merger will provide Naver with a new growth engine and significantly enhance its competitiveness in the virtual asset market.

Naver announced on the 26th that its subsidiary, Naver Financial, will make Dunamu a wholly owned subsidiary through a stock swap. Naver Financial will issue 87,559,198 new shares to make Dunamu a 100% subsidiary. The resulting corporate value ratio is 1 to 3.065 (stock exchange ratio 1 to 2.542). Naver Financial and Dunamu have each been valued at 4.9 trillion won and 15.1 trillion won, respectively.

Naver will delegate the voting rights for its 17% stake in Naver Financial, as well as the voting rights for the Naver Financial shares held by Dunamu Chairman Song Chi-hyung and Vice Chairman Kim Hyung-nyeon (19.5% and 10.0%, respectively). Through this, Naver will secure a total of 46.5% of the voting rights, maintaining its dominant position over Naver Financial.

The securities industry views this merger as Naver securing a new growth engine. Ahn Jae-min, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, stated, "With the integration of Naver Financial and Dunamu, Naver has secured a new growth engine related to virtual assets and stablecoins, so we can expect meaningful growth in the fintech business beyond its existing operations." He emphasized, "Through this combination, the company is expected to secure unrivaled competitiveness in the stablecoin market."

He added, "Given the expected growth of the stablecoin market and the synergy between Naver Pay and Dunamu, the long-term growth potential of Naver Financial is sufficient. The merged entity is expected to become a significant player in the virtual asset market, and considering the possibility of a future U.S. listing for Naver Financial, it could be recognized with a higher corporate value than at present."

Seo Jeong-yeon, a researcher at Shin Young Securities, also commented, "Dunamu is the first virtual asset business operator in Korea and ranks first domestically and fourth globally in terms of exchange size. The merger of these two companies, coupled with advancements in AI technology, is significant as it opens a path for them to secure growth engines in the digital finance industry both domestically and abroad."

Additionally, if the second phase of virtual asset legislation passes, the merged entity is expected to benefit. Lee Hyo-jin, a researcher at Meritz Securities, said, "The merged company will be the biggest beneficiary of the second phase of virtual asset legislation," adding, "We are paying attention to new business opportunities related to stablecoins and tokenization."

However, the exercise of appraisal rights for shares was cited as a variable. Researcher Seo explained, "The fact that dissenting shareholders can exercise their appraisal rights in May next year is a variable. In particular, if the size of appraisal rights exercised for each company exceeds 1.2 trillion won, there remains the possibility of renegotiating the merger terms or even terminating the contract."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.