SK Broadband, CJ Hellovision merger to be decided this month

[THE INVESTOR] The country’s antitrust watchdog said on July 4 that it has completed its review of the merger and acquisition deal being pursued by IPTV operator SK Broadband and CJ Hellovision -- a cable TV company.

The Fair Trade Commission said it sent its final evaluation report including its recommendations on the merger to SK Telecom, the parent company of SK Broadband, for feedback. 

Based on the results, a final decision on whether to allow the M&A will be made by Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Korean Communications Commission, as early as the end of this week.

Should it go through, the deal would be the largest M&A deal in the local telecommunications and broadcasting sector.

SK Broadband, a subsidiary of the largest mobile network firm, announced in November 2015 that it would take over and merge with CJ Hellovision, the nation’s No.1 cable TV company.

After the announcement, SKT and SK Broadband faced mounting criticism from other market participants such as KT and LG Uplus for hampering fair competition.

On July 4, CJHV saw its stock price jump more than 20 percent from the previous day to 14,250 won, in intra-day trading. It closed at 12,000 won, up 6.1 percent from July 1.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)