이 기사는 2021년 07월 29일 07시50분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Market insiders are paying attention to whether South Korea’s travel and hospitality startup Yanolja will join a race for Interpark, the nation’s pioneering booking and shopping platform.

NH Investment & Securities, which manages the sale of Interpark, has distributed teaser letters to potential buyers, industry sources said Tuesday. The brokerage firm plans to send out information memorandum at the end of July.

Market insiders start to mention Yanolja as one of the strong candidates to take over Interpark. Yanolja is said to be positively reviewing the acquisition after receiving a teaser from NH Investment & Securities. The accommodation booking platform has secured sufficient money after it received a 2 trillion-won ($1.73 billion) investment from Softbank's Vision Fund. The acquisition of Interpark may create synergy as it can reduce the purchase cycle, Yanolja’s biggest concern.

“The success of a platform ultimately depends on reducing the buying cycle, but Yanolja’s purchase cycle is longer than that of Naver, Kakao, or Coupang due to the nature of the industry. This makes the company look for ways to reduce it,” said an industry source. “Synergies will be created if Yanolja, which provides flight search services through partnerships with other companies, acquires Interpark, which focuses on flight and concert ticket reservations.”

Yanolja plans to develop into a global tech firm beyond an online travel agency. It aims to build and operate an advanced travel platform by strengthening its automated solutions using artificial intelligence and personalized offerings based on big data.

Yanolja has already expanded its services from accommodations to transportation, leisure, and restaurant reservations. The company’s monthly active users amount to 3.8 million in recent months.

Yanolja has been aggressively expanding its business through a series of mergers and acquisitions in accommodation and related businesses. The company has acquired or invested in total 11 companies since 2016.

Yanolja acquired Hotel Now in 2016 and LeisureQ, Korea Commodities Supply, and W Design Hotel in 2018. In 2019, it bought local property management system operators Garam Information System and SeeReal. It also took over Woori Pension, the country’s largest holiday guest house and hospitality reservation site operator, Daily Hotel, and eZee Technosys. Yanolja invested in Now Busking in 2020 and purchased Sanha Information Technology earlier this year.

Yanolja said nothing can be confirmed regarding the possible acquisition of Interpark. (Reporting by Ha-na Suh)