Both CJ ENM and SM Entertainment denied the ‘takeover rumor’.
An official from CJ ENM told Star News on October 21st, “Nothing has been decided yet.”
A SM Entertainment official also said, “We are discussing with various companies from various angles, but the signing of an acquisition contract on October 22 is not true.”
On the same day, Maeil Business News reported that CJ ENM would sign a contract to acquire SM Entertainment as early as October 22, borrowing the words of the investment banking (IB) industry. CJ ENM is said to be evaluating the value of 100% of SM Entertainment’s stake in the range of 3 to 4 trillion won.
Meanwhile, while it is known that SM Entertainment’s largest shareholder, Lee Soo-man, general producer, will sell his stake, Kakao Entertainment and CJ ENM have been fighting. However, as Kakao Entertainment has not recently stepped forward, CJ ENM remains the only candidate.
Source(1)
