News linked to both this project and an event.
According to Chosun, Korean-listed IT service provider ITCEN Global announced raising KRW 40 billion (approximately USD 3 million) through the issuance of convertible bonds. The funding round was fully subscribed by ITC Holdings, which is wholly owned by the KCGI Innovation Growth ESG Fund. The proceeds will be used to expand new businesses, including Web3 and security token offerings (STOs). The company stated that if South Korea’s digital asset regulatory framework is finalized in the second half of the year, these initiatives are expected to accelerate.
According to The Asia Business Daily, DS Investment & Securities issued a research report lowering NAVER’s target price from its previous level to 300,000 KRW, while maintaining a “Buy” rating. Analyst Choi Seung-ho noted that the downward revision is primarily driven by two factors: first, NAVER’s operating profit margin for this year is projected to decline from 18.3% to 17.6%, due to rising advertising and e-commerce marketing expenses as well as depreciation costs; second, delayed legislative progress on cryptocurrency-related regulations is directly affecting the proposed merger between NAVER Financial and Dunamu, raising the possibility of further postponement beyond the originally scheduled completion in September. Previously, DS Securities had assigned a valuation of 15 trillion KRW to NAVER’s cryptocurrency business within its Sum-of-the-Parts (SOTP) valuation; this portion has now been removed from the updated report. Choi Seung-ho added that the e-commerce business remains NAVER’s core growth engine going forward, with annual e-commerce sales expected to reach approximately 2.7 trillion KRW.