FTC approves Wyverns purchase in fast-track call

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday approved Emart's acquisition of the SK Wyverns, a baseball club.

SK Wyverns emblem. [NEWS1]

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday approved Emart’s acquisition of the SK Wyverns, a baseball club.

The antitrust regulators said, “we have concluded there are no concerns for market disruption.”

Shinsegae Group owns 14.5 percent shares of Samsung Lions, but FTC said, “10 baseball clubs are fiercely competing and their [SK Wyverns and Samsung Lions] regions are different, and therefore, they won’t likely disrupt the quality of league games through cooperation.”

SK Wyverns is based in Incheon while Samsung Lions is based in Daegu.

The FTC said it sped up the evaluation process to complete it before the pro baseball league starts this year on April 3.

The FTC said that it “hopes the decision quickly normalizes baseball league, which withered from Covid-19,” as only limited number of spectators could attend games.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]