Tencent weighing bid for holding company behind Korea's Nexon: sources

[January 18, 2019]    By Kane Wu and Heekyong Yang

HONG KONG/SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese gaming titan Tencent Holdings Ltd is considering a bid for the holding company that controls South Korean gaming company Nexon, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Logo of Tencent is displayed at a news conference in Hong Kong, China March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Tencent is looking to enlist co-investors, the sources said. One of the sources also said private equity firms are studying options for a deal, including taking the listed company private.

Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju plans to sell a controlling 98.64 percent stake in Nexon's holding firm NXC Corp, held by himself and related parties including his wife, the Korea Economic Daily newspaper reported this month.

The stake is worth between 8 trillion and 10 trillion won ($7.1 billion and $8.9 billion), according to reports from Korea Economic Daily and the Maeil Business Newspaper.

Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are running the sale, sources told Reuters. The two banks declined to comment.

The Maeil Business Newspaper said Tencent has picked Goldman Sachs as adviser, citing unidentified sources. It added that other potential bidders include KKR & Co Inc, TPG Capital, Carlyle Group and MBK Partners.

NXC and Tencent declined to comment.

(Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong and Heekyong Yang in Seoul; additional reporting by Julie Zhu in Hong Kong, Cate Cadell in Beijing; editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Jason Neely)

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