The scale reaches 20 trillion won! South Korea's Lotte will participate in the acquisition of the second-hand platform

Due to the epidemic, the size of South Korea's domestic second-hand transaction market has soared from 4 trillion won in 2008 to 20 trillion won in 2020 , and it is possible that the size will increase to 100 trillion won .

It is reported that Lotte Shopping will enter the second-hand trading market by acquiring shares of Junggo Nara, the largest second-hand trading platform in South Korea .

Lotte Shopping announced on the 23rd that it will participate in Eugene Asset Management's acquisition of Used Nara's equity as a financial investor .

Used Nara, founded in 2003 as Naver Cafe, currently has more than 23 million members and its transaction volume has increased from 2.5 trillion won in 2018 to 5 trillion won last year , reaching an all-time high.

A Lotte Shopping official said : " The total amount of the acquisition transaction is between 100 billion and 110 billion won , of which Lotte Shopping will invest 20 billion to 30 billion won."

It is reported that the private equity fund will acquire Used Nara   94% stake (approximately 100 billion won) , and under this investment, Lotte Shopping’s stake in Used Nara is expected to account for 23% of the investment amount.

A person related to Lotte Shopping explained : "The operating rights will be owned by the acquiring entity eugene asset operation, and Lotte Shopping will own part of the shares." It is understood that Lotte Shopping has obtained the largest stake from private equity investors, and Lotte Shopping will also participate in the management of Junggo Nara.

The relevant person added : "We have been paying attention to the growth trend of second-hand trading platforms. Affected by the epidemic, the domestic second-hand market is becoming a mainstream consumption . We have now made an investment decision to enter the second-hand trading market."

Recently, Rakuten has also recently joined the acquisition of eBay Korea in an effort to strengthen its online business.

It is understood that last year, the annual transaction volume on eBay Korea's online shopping site reached about 20 trillion won, which means that the successful acquisition can be on par with top portal operator Naver and e-commerce giant Coupang.

Kang Hee-tae, vice president of Lotte Group's distribution BU (business unit) and Lotte Shopping CEO, said at Lotte Shopping's shareholders meeting on the same day about the plan to acquire eBay Korea: "We are paying close attention."

South Korea

Second-hand market

Lotte