Investment banks lose ground amid Naver s global expansion
Posted : 2021-01-28 15:23
Tech giant conducting large deals without hiring financial advisers
By Park Jae-hyuk
Global investment banks have been excluded from benefiting from Naver s aggressive expansion into the global market, as the country s dominant web portal has begun to conduct large, cross-border deals without hiring financial advisory firms, according to industry officials on Thursday.
It has been usual for foreign investment banks to earn commissions by participating in big deals being pursued by Korean companies. Naver, however, completed a series of huge investments recently under the supervision of its own in-house experts.
By Park Jae-hyuk
Large deals being conducted without the involvement of foreign or domestic investment banks are occurring more frequently in Korea, as a growing number of conglomerates here are recruiting investment banking experts, according to industry officials, Wednesday.
The latest example is the agreement between SK Telecom and Amazon last month, regarding the latter s plan to acquire up to a 30 percent stake in 11st, the former s e-commerce subsidiary. The Korean mobile carrier established a taskforce to handle the international contract in October last year and held talks with the U.S. e-commerce giant without hiring a global investment bank.