South Korea’s Kakao drops plan to sell stake in taxi-hailing unit
2022.08.18 10:14
FILE PHOTO: The Kakao messaging application and the Kakao T taxi booking application are seen on a mobile phone in this illustration photo March 13, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean tech conglomerate Kakao Corp said on Thursday it is no longer exploring plans to sell about 10% of unit Kakao Mobility after objections from unionised employees and other stakeholders.
Kakao holds a 57.6% stake in Kakao Mobility, whose app Kakao T offers South Korea’s most popular taxi-hailing service with 31 million registered users.
It had been looking at a possible share sale after the company was criticised in parliament late last year for dominating the taxi-hailing market with an estimated market share of more than 80%.
Kakao Mobility, whose investors include Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s Google and private equity firms TPG and Carlyle, has also been exploring an IPO. It hired financial advisers in March including Credit Suisse and Citigroup (NYSE:C), but has currently paused any specific actions toward a listing, a company spokesperson said.
Unfavourable market conditions have caused a number of South Korean firms to scrap or postpone IPOs, including refiner Hyundai Oilbank and Hyundai Engineering.
