As Naver reviews a minority stake acquisition of the fresh food e-commerce company Kurly, the share price of Kurly has reached its highest in over a year in the over-the-counter market. It is nearly double the price compared to the beginning of the year.
However, Kurly's current market capitalization still remains in the 600 billion won range. This is far below its valuation during its most recent funding round (approximately 2.9 trillion won).
According to Securities Plus, on the 20th, the share price of Kurly rose by 1.38% to 14,700 won compared to the previous day on the 18th. This is the highest share price since May 22 last year (14,700 won), marking the peak in about 11 months. The market capitalization stands at 620.8 billion won. On the same day, the share price of Kurly was recorded at 14,600 won on 38 Communications, recovering the price from May last year.
The over-the-counter share price of Kurly had remained in the 7,000 won range until the beginning of this year. On January 16, the share price was merely 7,650 won on Securities Plus. The market capitalization was 323 billion won. This was the lowest level since the issuance of unified shares in 2022, which began trading on the over-the-counter stock transaction platform.
The rebound in Kurly's share price is interpreted to have multiple causes. First, it achieved positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for the first time since its founding last year with a surplus of 13.7 billion won. The total revenue was reported at 2.1956 trillion won, an increase of 6%.
At the end of last month, news of a stock buyback was announced. Kurly stated it would buy back 1 million shares for 15 billion won, which amounts to a market capitalization of 633.5 billion won based on this transaction.
With speculation of Naver's stake investment, shareholders' expectations for an increase in corporate value are rising. Recently, investment banking (IB) sources reported that Naver is considering acquiring a 10% stake from Kurly's early investors. A Kurly official noted, "Nothing has been finalized yet," but it is understood that it presents Naver with a good opportunity to strengthen its fresh food sector by acquiring Kurly's equity at a low price, so the likelihood of completion is high.
Although Kurly's share price has roughly doubled compared to the beginning of the year due to several positive developments, major financial investors (FIs) are still far from reaching their breakeven point (BEP). Anchor Equity Partners, a global private equity fund (PEF) management firm, invested 120 billion won in Kurly in 2023 together with Aspect Capital, at which time the recognized corporate value was 2.9 trillion won. Earlier, when they invested 250 billion won in 2021, the corporate value was close to 4 trillion won.