Netmarble Chairman Bang Jun-hyuk to buy company shares from Tencent affiliate
Bang Jun-hyuk, chairman of South Korean game developer Netmarble, will acquire most of the company’s share package held by Han River Investment, an entity affiliated with Tencent. The transaction is expected to be worth 374 billion won, or about $270 million. This is reported by Korea Herald.
Transaction terms
Han River Investment planned to sell part of its 18.1% stake in Netmarble. Bang Jun-hyuk agreed to purchase 11.15 million shares at a price of 33,538 won per share. The transaction is scheduled to close on September 21.
Netmarble stated that the agreed price includes a discount for a block transaction compared with the company’s average share price during the month before negotiations began. As the deal is concluded between shareholders, Netmarble itself will not receive funds from the sale.
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Change in ownership structure
After the transaction is completed, Bang Jun-hyuk’s stake in Netmarble will increase from 24.93% to 38.34%. At the same time, Han River Investment’s stake will decrease to 4.69%. The gap between the stakes of the two largest shareholders will increase from 6.82 to 33.65 percentage points.
In a regulatory filing, Netmarble named the strengthening of responsible management as the purpose of the acquisition. Han River Investment explained the sale by the need to recover investment funds. According to the publication, Bang Jun-hyuk is expected to finance the purchase with a loan secured by shares; details of the collateral and other terms are to be disclosed later.
Netmarble also noted that the change in ownership structure will not affect its cooperation with Tencent. The companies have worked together since 2014, when Tencent invested 530 billion won in CJ Games, Netmarble’s predecessor.
