Seoul, October 23 (Yonhap) – Eugene Group, a medium-sized business conglomerate with interests in distribution and finance, has won a bid to acquire a substantial stake in news channel YTN, according to financial sources on Monday.
Eugene Group, Hansae Co., an apparel exporter, and the Global Peace Foundation, founded by Moon Hyun-jin, the third son of Moon Sun-myung, the late founder of the Unification Church, were the three final bidders to purchase the 30.95 percent stake in YTN. Eugene Group’s final bid was reported to be 319.9 billion won (US$237 million).
In November of last year, two state-run firms, KEPCO KDN and the Korea Racing Authority (KRA), announced their intention to put the stake up for sale. KEPCO KDN is the information and communication technologies solutions unit of state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. The KRA is the country’s sole racing authority by KRA law.
Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers is handling the transaction. The final bidder and its bidding price must be approved by the Korea Communications Commission.
This file photo taken April 7, 2014, shows YTN's new headquarters named YTN New Square in Sangam, Mapo, in western Seoul. (Yonhap)
kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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