Withdraw IPO plan! The current situation of Korean e-commerce TMON is not optimistic

According to the Korea Times, South Korean e-commerce platform TMON recently said that it had recently made "adjustments" to its original plan for an initial public offering (IPO) in the second half of the year. The company said that the IPO plan will be delayed for a while and will be listed when preparations are more complete .

People familiar with the matter said they postponed the IPO because the company's major investors expected the company would not be able to get a high enough price in the market.

It is reported that TMON's main investors are KKR and Anchor Equity Partners Korea. These two private equity firms hold up to 90% of TMON's shares.

But in addition to the subjective wishes of major shareholders , the frequent changes in TMON's senior management in recent months have also greatly affected the company's IPO plans.

In May this year , TMON CEO Lee Jin-won resigned, and his successor, Jeon In-chon, also left after only one month in office. Another former CEO and current chairman of the board, Yoo Han-ik, also left TMON in June this year . Joey Chang, former CEO of software development company Atreez, was appointed co-CEO of TMON in June this year.

The frequent changes in senior management have also caused the industry to question TMON's future development prospects.

TMON spokesman Choi Yang-hwan said: " We will not withdraw the IPO, but will adjust the listing date until the timing becomes better. "

Although TMON also admitted that it is "a good time for an e-commerce operator to go public" during the ongoing pandemic , TMON said it should wait until it provides more competitive services to customers and achieves growth in corporate value before going public. As for the specific plans on how to achieve these goals, TMON did not disclose them.

However, in the eyes of many industry insiders, TMON's listing plan has been postponed indefinitely!

While the coronavirus pandemic boosted online purchases, TMON also achieved its first operating profit since its founding 10 years ago in March last year. However, as TMON scaled back its operations to cope with snowballing losses, its annual sales in 2020 fell 17% to 286.4 billion won , with a full-year operating loss of 63.1 billion won.

Based on the current situation of the Korean e-commerce market, TMON’s current development situation is indeed not optimistic. As for when it will prepare to go public again, it is really impossible to predict.

South Korea

E-commerce

IPO