Korean Version of Tesla
Ticket Monster (TMON), the second largest e-commerce platform in Korea, is expected to be listed on the KOSDAQ as ta Korean version of Tesla.
The Korean government introduced a system called Tesla requirements in January this year that allows unprofitable but promising startups to go public by revising the market listing requirements.
According to the investment banking industry on April 6, Ticket Monster recently entered into a preliminary consultation stage with the Korea Exchange after selecting Samsung Securities as a lead manager to prepare for a preliminary screening for the former’s being listed on the stock market.
Ticket Monster posted 141.9 billion won (US$125 million) in operating loss in 2015, which is bigger than the previous year. The company is scheduled to announce its last year’s performance in the middle of this month, but industry watchers predict that Ticket Monster still marks deficits. However, the company said that its sales are increasing, but it is inevitably in the red because the company should make further investment to grow while competing with other e-commerce companies, open markets and large discount stores. Ticket Monster’s sales increased from 157.5 billion won (US$141 million) in 2014 to 195.9 billion won (US$176 million) in 2015.
Ticket Monster's listing strategy hit a snag and is placing a lot of hope on the Tesla system. In 2013, the Korean social commerce firm had a dream to become a NASDAQ-listed company as it was taken over by Groupon, but the collapse of Groupon stocks in the market made the dram short-lived.
However, the situation changed as Groupon's management conditions deteriorated and Groupon’s stake was turned over again. Shin Hyun-sung, Ticket Monster's CEO, regained control of the company in concert with global private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), which acquired OB Brewery in 2015. As a private equity fund participated in the stake, the private equity fund’s return on investment plan also became an important management issue. In the industry, Ticket Monster badly needs to be listed on the stock market as KKR is expected to collect its investment in 2018, which will be the third year of investment.