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Naver is no longer interested in the acquisition of SM Entertainment and officially backed out of the race. The company will not participate in the bidding race and leave it to other competitors.
According to The Korea Herald, Naver’s announcement to ditch the plans to buy SM Entertainment comes after months of speculation that it has been competing with Kakao for the acquisition of a 19.21% stake that belongs to the company’s founder Lee Soo Man. This is also said to be the largest portion of shares that Lee is set to dispose of.
With its withdrawal from the race, it was said that Kakao Entertainment will now be facing CJ ENM to become SM Entertainment’s largest stakeholder. Naver revealed its decision to drop its acquisition plans on Friday, April 22.
“The company is looking into various options to bolster business competitiveness, but it has decided not to participate in the deal,” Kim Nan Sun, Naver’s chief financial officer, stated in a regulatory filing.
In any case, the entertainment agency that is home to Super Junior, EXO, SHINEE, TVXQ, and aespa also released a statement on the same day and denied the rumors that it has already decided on the acquisition deal. “We are weighing diverse options, but nothing has been decided yet,” the company said.
CJ ENM and Kakao Entertainment are the leading potential bidders now for SME’s stake. As Naver is out of the picture now, they could bring about an intense bidding fight to own part of the entertainment agency and gain a large controlling stake.
Kakao and CJ ENM are interested in buying shares in SM as they can boost their own companies by incorporating music and other content from the agency. It was rumored that the former is offering 1 trillion won or around $804 million for the 19% shares, but currently, talks have been put on hold due to Lee Soo Man’s alleged demands that are difficult to agree on.
Finally, Asia Economy noted that this is the first time that Naver ever confirmed it had plans to acquire SME. However, this is also the time that the company is confirming its plans have changed and will no longer place a bet to buy the agency.
