SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean tech conglomerate Kakao (035720.KS) secured a 1.2 trillion won ($966.27 million) investment from leading sovereign wealth fund Kakao Entertainment on Thursday announced.
Kakao said the move, the largest overseas investment in a South Korean content company, is expected to boost potential growth for South Korean content at a time when a weak economic outlook has dried up liquidity in many other sectors. Investors’ bullish outlook on the economy and its ‘recession-proof’ tendencies. , the analyst said.
Singapore’s GIC and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) have each decided to invest 600 billion won in entertainment companies, local newspaper Korea Economic Daily reported, citing unnamed investment bank sources.
However, Kakao did not name the Sovereign Wealth Fund in its statement. GIC and he PIF did not immediately comment.
Kakao Corp shares gained 1% in early morning trading, outpacing the 0.2% gain in the broader market (.KS11).
“It is important that we were able to secure this amount of funding at a time when both the Korean and global markets face a lot of uncertainty and investment sentiment is weak,” said Bae Jae-hyun, chief investment officer of Kakao. Told.
Unlisted Kakao Entertainment has a wide-ranging business portfolio ranging from K-POP, including artist management, to relatively low-cost online content such as shows, movies, comics called webtoons, and serialized web novels. I’m here.
“Webtoons and web novels are steadily gaining success in dramas and other forms, so investors should invest in intellectual property rights holders,” said Kim Jin-woo, an analyst at Daol Investment & Securities. I think it’s value and timing,” he said.
“Having secured funding, Kakao Entertainment may seek to strengthen its artist line-up through M&A and other means that can better target overseas markets.”
($1 = 1,241.8900 KRW)
Reported by Joyce Lee. Edited by Chris Reese and Sherry Jacob-Phillips
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
