South Korea s two online giants Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. have completed their respective acquisitions of storytelling platforms in the US and Canada, heralding head-to-head competition in the world s largest media and entertainment market.
Naver has closed its 684.8 billion won ($612 million) purchase of a 100% stake in Wattpad, the world s largest web novel platform based in Toronto, it said in a regulatory filing on May 10. It slightly revised up the price of its largest-ever cross-border acquisition.
On Tuesday, Kakao Entertainment Co., majority-owned by the mobile messaging app operator Kakao Corp., said that its board of directors has approved its acquisitions of both US-based mobile fiction startup Radish Fiction Inc. and the third-largest US digital comics platform Tapas Media Inc.
Wash Swat founders examining clothes at a laundromat. (From left: Ye Sang-wook, Namgung Jina)
South Korea-based laundry service startup Wash Swat Inc. has secured 17.5 billion won ($16 million) in Series B round funding, bringing the company s total amount raised to date to 27.7 billion won, according to the company on May. 3.
A new batch of investors participated in the latest funding, including UTC Investment, Industrial Bank of Korea, KB Securities, ES Investor and T Investment, alongside existing investors.
Established in 2015, Wash Swat was co-founded by Namgung Jina and Ye Sang-wook, with a team of employees who were founding members of e-commerce giant Coupang Corp., which made its trading debut in the US in March.
A warehouse of Korea Superfreeze
Korea Superfreeze Co., 24.95% owned by Goldman Sachs PIA, will spend 2.5 trillion won ($2.2 billion) in building six cold storage facilities in South Korea this year, part of which the private equity firm will finance, according to sources with knowledge of the matter on Apr. 26.
Its facility investment plan comes as Coupang Corp., the country s No.2 e-commerce platform is expected to invest around 4 trillion won in securing new distribution centers over the next five years following its $4.6 billion New York listing last month.
Founded by private equity firm EMP Belstar in 2015, Korea Superfreeze was the first company in the country to use cold energy extracted from liquefied natural gas (LNG) frozen at minus 162 degrees to refrigerate vast storage warehouses.
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(Courtesy of Taihan Electric Wire Co.)
The $5.4 billion fund has completed five divestitures over the past six months, estimated to have produced a combined 1 trillion won in proceeds, including both the investment principal and capital gains.
The firm s aggressive divestments were in contrast to other private equity firms in Korea, which have opted to sit back until their portfolio companies achieve higher valuations with the receding of the pandemic.
IMM PE was founded in 2006 by Chief Executive I.J. Song, an accountant. It focuses on Korea and Korea-related investment opportunities, with 30 investment professionals
TAIHAN ELECTRIC WIRE
The exit deal for Taihan Electric Wire Co. highlighted IMM PE s turnaround strategy. IMM PE took over a 71.51% stake in the country s No. 2 electric wire manufacturer for around 300 billion won in 2015. The company s reckless business diversification had aggravated its financial conditions, landing in the hands of creditor banks.