Naver's early invest in Woowa Brothers returns in 10-fold profit

[Photo by Lee Seung-hwan]

South Korean internet giant Naver Corp. has reaped handsome returns from its early investment into startup Woowa Brothers, operator of top food delivery app Baedal Minjok, completing merger with Germany’s Delivery Hero this year in a $4 billion deal.

Naver disclosed on Tuesday that it was given 1,691,051 shares or 3.81 percent in Delivery Hero worth 247.7 billion won ($220.6 million).

Naver invested 35 billion won in Woowa Brothers in September 2017. When the food delivery service provider was sold to Delivery Hero, the German company offered to exchange Naver’s share with its own shares worth $89 million plus $100 million in cash in December 2019.

Delivery Hero stock prices have risen sharply since then, pushing up Naver’s share value to over $220 million.

Combined with $100 million in cash, Naver would have earned 10 times more for its investment in Woowa Brothers.

Naver shares rose 5.83 percent to close at 399,500 won in Seoul trading on Wednesday.

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