Singapore-based ecommerce firm Qoo10 to acquire TMON

TMON [TMON]

Singapore-based ecommerce firm Qoo10 plans to acquire TMON through a stock swap deal, industry sources said Thursday.

TMON's two major shareholders — Anchor Equity Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. — have agreed on the stock swap deal with Qoo10, according to the sources.

Under the deal, the two shareholders will trade their 81.74 percent stake in TMON with new shares issued by Qoo10's logistics affiliate, Qxpress. The remaining amount will be paid in cash, sources said.

The remaining stake in TMON is owned by a consortium led by Poongsung Group, a Korean car parts maker.

Qoo10 is also pushing to buy ecommerce platform Interpark from travel platform operator Yanolja, which bought a 70 percent stake in Interpark worth some 294 billion won ($220 million).

Based in Singapore, Qoo10 is an ecommerce platform founded by eBay and GMarket founder Koo young-bae. The site operates localized marketplaces across five Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Its affiliate, Qxpress, reported around 150 billion won in sales in 2020. It is pushing for an initial public offering on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, and is currently under review by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Yonhap