Global investment bank Goldman Sachs is seeking to acquire management control of Tmap Mobility, the operator of South Korea's leading navigation service, Tmap.
According to industry sources on October 29, SK Square, the largest shareholder of Tmap Mobility, is in negotiations with Goldman Sachs regarding the sale of management rights. Goldman Sachs is reportedly discussing the acquisition of shares held not only by SK Square (63.23%) but also by other major financial investors, including Accent Mobility Investment Company (Alpama Capital, 9.83%), Terameter Holdings (Eastbridge Partners, 9.83%), and Kookmin Bank (6.39%).
The amount Goldman Sachs plans to invest in acquiring management control of Tmap Mobility is estimated to be between 700 billion and 800 billion won.
Tmap Mobility is expanding its business beyond navigation services into the vehicle infotainment market. The company supplies its navigation and infotainment solution, Tmap Auto, to over 20 global automakers, with the number of vehicles equipped with Tmap Auto exceeding 1.15 million, a nearly 50% increase from 770,000 units last January.
SK Square is reportedly considering retaining a portion of its shares to continue collaboration in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).
This marks the second change in the largest shareholder of Tmap Mobility. Tmap began as SK Telecom's navigation service, Nate Drive, in 2002. In December 2020, SK Telecom spun off its mobility division to establish Tmap Mobility, which was subsequently incorporated into SK Square, formed through a corporate split from SK Telecom the following year.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.