Chinese giant Alibaba emerges as front-runner to acquire 11st

China's Alibaba is the top contender to acquire SK Square's e-commerce company, 11st, after its failed IPO attempt. The Korean market's growth potential is attracting interest from Alibaba and other players.

A man walks past an Alibaba sign outside the company's office in Beijing on April 13, 2021. [AFP]

China’s Alibaba has emerged as a strong suitor to acquire 11st, an e-commerce company owned by SK Square, after attempts to take 11st public fell apart.

“Other parties such as Singapore-based Qoo10 and Amazon also expressed interests [in buying the company], but currently Alibaba is the most likely candidate,” said a source with knowledge of the matter.

Formerly pushing for an initial public offering with a corporate valuation estimated at around 1 trillion won ($754 million), 11st halted the listing procedure earlier this year due to unfavorable market conditions.

Still, SK Square, an investment-focused affiliate of SK, should take it public or sell it within this month as a part of its clause with financial investors.

A group of local investors including the National Pension Service, Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, and private equity firm H&Q Korea invested 500 billion won into 11st in 2018 on the condition it goes public in five years.

But the market conditions boded ill for the e-commerce player as it was losing ground to competitors like Coupang and shopping malls tied with portal Naver.

At the same time, the overall Korean e-commerce market kept growing in recent years both for inbound and cross-border purchases.

Last year's cross-border shopping reached 96.12 million transactions at a value of $4.725 billion — an increase of 198 percent for transactions and 71.5 percent in value, compared to 2018, according to the Korea Customs Service.

The Korean e-commerce market has grown significantly too, from 38 trillion won in 2013 to around 200 trillion won in 2022.

The robust growth trajectory could draw Alibaba to the discussion table for the deal.

Korean shoppers interested in buying Chinese goods already use AliExpress and Taobao, retail service platforms operated by the Alibaba Group.

The two platforms’ market share stood at 43 percent in Korea’s cross-border purchases last year, according to Korea Customs Service.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]