Goldman Sachs in talks to buy stake in Tmap Mobility

Goldman Sachs is in negotiations with SK Square and financial investors to acquire a stake in Tmap Mobility, in a deal that could include a transfer of management control, according to bloter.net.

SK Square is the largest shareholder of the mobility company, holding 10,838,500 of 17,141,899 common shares outstanding as of the end of last year, or 63.23%. Affirma Capital's Ascenta Mobility investment vehicle and EastBridge Partners' Terameter Holdings each held 2,287,859 shares (13.35%), KB Kookmin Bank held 1,487,111 shares (8.67%) and other shareholders held 240,570 shares (1.40%).

SK Square is reportedly discussing keeping a minority stake so it can continue cooperation on AI and data even if it gives up control.

Tmap Mobility acquired 1,612,168 common shares as treasury stock on January 30 this year for about 206.5 billion won. The company posted 4.4 billion won in EBITDA in the second quarter of this year and turned to a monthly operating profit in June this year.

From SK Telecom spin-off to sale talks

Tmap Mobility was established in December 2020 through a spin-off of SK Telecom's mobility division and became a subsidiary of SK Square after SK Square was split off from SK Telecom the following year. In 2021 it raised 40 billion won from Affirma Capital and EastBridge Partners at a corporate value of 1.4 trillion won; the IPO deadline promised in that round was 2025 but was extended to 2027 by shareholder agreement. Last year's consolidated operating loss was 14.1 billion won, narrowing from 46.8 billion won the previous year, though the company did not reach an annual operating profit.