Connectwave stock surges on MBK Partners‘ tender offer plan

[Courtesy of Connectwave Co.]

Connectwave Co., a South Korean e-commerce platform operator formerly known as Danawa, saw its shares soar on Monday morning following a tender offer from private equity fund firm MBK Partners Ltd.

Shares of Connectwave were trading at 17,850 won ($13) as of 10:40 a.m., up 14.64 percent from the previous session

The stock hit 17,880 won earlier, approaching the 18,000 won offer price.

The surge came after Korea E-Commerce Holdings Inc., the special purpose vehicle of MBK Partners, announced that it will purchase 16,647,864 shares, or 29.61 percent of Connectwave’s potential outstanding shares between Monday and May 24.

MBK Partners plans to acquire all remaining shares, excluding the 18,199,803 shares owned by Korea E-commerce Holdings, the 5,226,469 shares owned by founder Kim Ki-rok and the 6,974,871 shares owned by Connectwave, through the tender offer and then proceed with delisting.

Shares of electric vehicle component company HL Mando Co. also soared by more than 11 percent on Monday morning fueled by robust first-quarter performance and growth prospects.

Shares of HL Mando were trading at 37,800 won as of 10:40 a.m., up 15.95 percent from the previous trading session.

HL Mando on Friday announced that it posted 2.1 trillion won in sales in the first quarter, up 5.5 percent from a year ago. Its operating profit stood at 75.6 billion won, up 7.7 percent.

Analyst Shin Yoon-chul of Kiwoom Securities Co. gave a positive outlook for HL Mando, noting that the company has already achieved 41.1 percent of its annual new order target of 15.1 trillion won this year, following last year‘s record order of 16.6 trillion won.