W Concept Korea Co., a popular South Korean fashion shopping site, is put up for sale and may allow its seller to walk away with a four-fold profit in its investment made three years ago.

IMM Private Equity, a Seoul-based private equity fund investor, is cashing out of the online shopping mall it bought at 100 billion won in 2017. Citigroup Global Markets Korea Securities is leading the sale and will arrange a tender next month after handing out invites to potential candidates this week.

Given the e-commmerce platform’s growing potential and annual gross merchandise volume(GMV) of 245 billion won ($214 million), the deal could fetch 400 billion won.

GMV, a total value of merchandise sold at online stores, is a key metric for measuring the value of an e-commerce platform. W Concept Korea’s GMV more than doubled from 2017.

The fashion online mall has been steadily popular among women in their 20s and 30s. It has about 6,200 brand choices as of June this year, up 2.5 times compared to the end of 2016.

Women aged 40 or older are also joining the online fashion mall as shopping has become restricted under Covid-19 threat. The age group has come to account for 20 percent of its customers this year, more than doubled from past years.

W Concept Korea was part of SK Network before it was spun off as a standalone company in 2008. It was acquired by IMM Private Equity in 2017. The deal reportedly has been gathering inquiries from home and abroad.

By Kang Doo-soon, Kang Woo-seok, and Cho Jeehyun

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