HYBE considers new tender offer on SM to block Kakao

• Published date: 08 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

Kakao's plan to counterattack HYBE by launching its own tender offer to purchase a 35 percent stake in SM Entertainment has met a major challenge. The stock price of SM on Wednesday soared well above 150,000 won ($113) per share, which Kakao promised to pay during its tender offer ending March 26.

The stock price started at 156,700 won at the start of the Kosdaq market at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, a 7,000 won jump from Tuesday's closing price of 149,700 won. It then rose to an all-time high of 161,200 won at around 2:39 p.m., finishing at 158,500 won, a 5.88 percent increase from the previous day.

Wednesday's hike in SM stocks is attributed to markets' anticipation that HYBE might launch yet another tender offer at 180,000 won per SM share, which is 20 percent higher than Kakao's current tender offer. Industry sources say that HYBE is currently considering launching the new tender offer, aiming to secure its originally targeted 25 percent stake in SM in addition to the 15 percent it already holds.

The global K-pop powerhouse and producer of BTS planned to solidify its control over SM via its first tender offer of 120,000 won per share conducted last month, hoping to purchase the additional 25 percent stake directly from the market. But the attempt failed, garnering only 0.98 percent more from the move.

Kakao launched its own tender offer priced at 150,000 won earlier this week, aiming to purchase a 35 percent stake in SM. However, with HYBE considering a new tender offer 20 percent higher than Kakao's current one, chances are that Kakao will also fail.

HYBE has recently appointed Morgan Stanley as its financing advisory firm, planning to attract 1 trillion won from financial investors both in the country and abroad. The entertainment company also examined an option for financing an additional 300 billion won through major security firms in Korea. If HYBE is to purchase the 25 percent stake of SM at the price of 180,000 won per...