이 기사는 2021년 08월 17일 08시04분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

South Korean game publisher Netmarble has cashed out its stake in Kakao Games after offloading six million shares in KakaoBank for 430.2 billion won ($372 million) last week. The company pocketed nearly 700 billion won by divesting shares in Kakao’s affiliates.

The move is seen as part of its plan to finance its 2.5 trillion won acquisition of SpinX. The company may also believe that Kakao Games’ stock price peaked

Netmarble said Friday that it decided to offload its full stake, or more than 3.21 million shares in Kakao Games for 253.6 billion won, or 78,800 a piece, via a block deal before the market opened on Friday.

The gaming company has secured about 683 billion won in cash in just three days, including its sale of shares in KakaoBank for 430 billion won on Tuesday

Netmarble made the move to secure cash after the South Korean gaming company agreed to acquire 100% of SpinX for $2.19 billion earlier this month. Netmarble has to pay 80% of the deal value, including the down payment, on the expected closing date of September 17. Although the company will take a short-term loan worth about 1.78 trillion won, it still needs 230 billion won to fund the acquisition.

Netmarble can cover the 230 billion won through the sale of shares in KakaoBank. But, it needs additional 125.6 billion won by next year as it should pay the remaining 20%, or about 502.6 billion won, over the next four years.

The company already had short-term debt worth 378.8 billion won before striking the acquisition deal, most of which mature between July and December.

Netmarble has to secure additional funds to repay the debts and come up with a plan to repay the short-term loan it borrowed recently. Netmarble had cash and cash-equivalent assets worth 230 billion won in the first quarter on a non-consolidated basis.

Selling Kakao Games shares was an appropriate option for Netmarble as the stock price rose 60% to an 80,000 won level just in one month.

Netmarble may seek to sell its stake in another gaming company NCSoft as their stock swap agreement had expired in March.

Netmarble owned an 8.88% stake in NCSoft as of the end of first quarter. The value of the stake owned by Netmarble is about 1.56 trillion won based on the Thursday’s closing price. (Reporting by Sang-woo Seong)