Tmon, a leading South Korean e-commerce company, is gearing up to go public in earnest, as it has recently chosen local investment firm Mirae Asset Daewoo as its leading underwriter. The move came after the IPO plan faced a number of hurdles in finding underwriters earlier this year due mainly to negative outlooks for the highly saturated domestic e-commerce market.

“Mirae Asset Daewoo has been picked as the sole underwriter, outgunning NH Investment & Securities and Nomura Securities, which are often considered powerhouses in the IPO sector here and abroad,” an official from the investment banking segment was quoted as saying by local financial newspaper the Seoul Economic Daily.

“The result of the competition has been reported to other bidders,” the source added.

The e-commerce firm sent out a request for proposals to local and global brokerages and investment banks in March to proceed with the planned IPO. Because of the quickly spreading novel coronavirus, however, many financial firms have reportedly hesitated to participate in the bidding process. In addition, the e-commerce market has been largely considered a red ocean, as most of the leading players in the market, such as Coupang, were losing money until only recently.

In 2018, Tmon posted an operating loss of 127.8 billion won ($104.2 million), with its capital becoming impaired.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)