Naver secures funds for Wallapop acquisition

Wallapop CI

South Korean internet giant Naver Corp. announced on Tuesday that it will acquire an additional 562,707,374 shares of its Spanish investment affiliate, NW Holdings Intermedia SL, for about 972.8 billion won ($659 million).

The acquisition is scheduled for March 30, 2026, after which Naver’s ownership stake in the company will increase to 100 percent.

Naver noted that the move involves lending 972.8 billion won to NW Holdings to secure funds for the acquisition of Wallapop, Spain’s largest consumer-to-consumer online marketplace, and then converting the loan into equity.

In August, Naver announced plans to buy Wallapop, by purchasing the remaining 70.5 percent stake in addition to the 29.5 percent stake it already owned.

The latest share acquisition is a follow-up measure to that announcement, aimed at providing the necessary acquisition funds to NW Holdings, which will serve as the actual acquiring entity for Wallapop.

“By acquiring Wallapop, a C2C company with a diverse range of products and rich user-generated stories, we will deepen our understanding of usage patterns among Spanish and European users,” said Naver Chief Executive Officer Choi Soo-yeon. “This will strengthen Naver’s competitiveness in the artificial intelligence ecosystem where data diversity is a key competitive advantage.”