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Grocery platform Oasis starts acquisition of troubled TMON

Published: 05 Mar. 2025, 15:52 Updated: 05 Mar. 2025, 18:15

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

TMON's headquarters in Gangnam District, southern Seoul [NEWS1]

Grocery marketplace Oasis has started procedures to acquire TMON, an e-commerce platform riddled with liquidity issues and unresolved consumer disputes, including over travel package refunds.

TMON requested that the Seoul Rehabilitation Court appoint Oasis as its selected buyer for a prospective conditional acquisition, according to Yonhap on Tuesday.

TMON, along with affiliate WeMakePrice, had been negotiating deals with potential buyers under the watch of the rehabilitation court since last July after its Singapore-based parent company, Qoo10, faced a liquidity meltdown.

Oasis will acquire TMON for an undisclosed amount on the condition that WeMakePrice is not part of the deal, Yonhap reported.

The acquisition is a stalking horse offer — a bid on a bankrupt firm’s assets before auction — which means other interested buyers still have the opportunity to purchase TMON. Potential bidders will be able to know the amount proposed by Oasis after signing a nondisclosure agreement and may present a higher offer.

TMON and WeMakePrice’s financial adviser, EY Hanyoung, will consolidate the conditional acquisition on Thursday, once it is approved by the court.

The buyer will be determined next month, after a notice for acquisition is posted and the public auction is concluded.

TMON will be sold to Oasis if the latter firm can fulfill the conditions laid out in the deal, even if a different interested buyer outbids it in the auction, per the right of first refusal.

Oasis is a food marketplaces that sells its products at brick and mortar stores and online. It started an early morning delivery service in 2018. [OASIS]

Oasis, founded in 2011, is a food marketplace. The business started as a chain of stores that sold groceries sourced directly from a network of suppliers. The firm launched its online platform, “Oasis Market,” in 2018 and has since expanded to early morning grocery deliveries.

The company weighed an acquisition of online marketplace 11Street last year as it geared up for a second chance at an initial public offering, but the deal fell through after the two failed to agree on payment types. Oasis attempted to join the Kosdaq bourse in 2023 but withdrew after the forecast showed demand falling below expectations.

The company had a total equity of 160.8 billion won ($110.5 million) as of the third quarter last year, with 233.6 billion won in total assets and 72.8 billion won in liabilities.

TMON currently has 70.25 billion won in total assets and 1.19 trillion won in liabilities, according to EY Hanyoung's January report.

The platform faces a class action lawsuit from customers who had purchased travel packages on TMON and WeMakePrice. The suit, filed against travel agencies, payment gateways and the two platforms, demands refunds for travel itineraries that were canceled by the sellers shortly after Qoo10’s liquidity crisis became known.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]