SSG.com aims to go public early next year

Emart online platform hastens IPO timeline

Shinsegae Group’s online platform SSG.com is pushing for an earlier-than-expected initial public offering (IPO) next year, ahead of its original timeline that eyed late 2022 or early 2023.

According to investment banking sources, Monday, SSG.com is in “thorough discussions” with local brokerages, seeking a lead underwriter for the process. SSG.com’s IPO will be affected by Market Kurly’s local listing, sources familiar with the issue said.

Market Kurly, the premier local online food selling platform, is looking for lead and co-manager underwriters for its IPO to handle the bidding process.

After it changed direction to go public on the local stock market, scrapping its perhaps overambitious U.S. listing, the company is seeking major local brokerages to move forward with the planned IPO.

Korea Investment & Securities and NH Investment & Securities decided not to participate due to their commitment to the planned IPO of Oasis Market — another online food delivery platform. Samsung Securities and Mirae Asset Securities have also decided not to do so as they are seek to take part SSG.com’s IPO, highly likely to begin sometime in the latter half of the year.

Officially launched in late 2018 as an online platform of Shinsegae’s retailer Emart, SSG.com has grown into one of the nation’s major online retailers, competing for market share with Coupang and Market Kurly. Soon after its official launch in late 2018, SSG.com received 700 billion won ($608 million) in investments from Hong Kong-based Affinity Equity Partners and BlueRun Ventures

in early 2019.

This completed SSG.com’s first round investment target, with an additional 300 billion coming in 2022 from Affinity and BlueRun — 500 billion won each in total for a 25 percent stake in the company on the condition of it going public within five years.

SSG.com’s corporate valuation has been assessed at around 4 trillion won, and it was in need of a hurriedly-arranged listing until the confirmation of Market Kurly’s local IPO.

With online retailers seeing increased demand amid the global pandemic, SSG.com logged annual revenue of 1.29 trillion won in 2020, the first time its sales exceeded 1 trillion won. As this strong growth has facilitated earlier discussions about an IPO than originally planned, the injection of the remaining 300 billion won will also likely be earlier than initially expected.