Successful Debuts
Naver's mobile messenger service subsidiary, Line Corp., made a debut on the New York Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Exchange, hitting the jackpot of rises of 26.61% and 32% from their offering prices on the first of their listing. This was the first time for an overseas affiliate of a Korean company to go public in the foreign bourses by way of independent service.
The listing of LINE via the largest IPO among IT companies in the world is expanding anticipation that it will accelerate Naver’s global invasion on a full scale. LINE’s stock price began from 4,900 yen, up 48.5% from the offering price of 3,300 yen, hovered around the 5,000 yen level, showing high trade volume and closed at 4,345 yen in Tokyo on July 15, its first trading day.
Moreover, stock price of LINE listed on the New York Stock Exchange on July 14 (local time) closed at US$ 41.58, up 26.61% from the offering price of US$32.84, making the successful first day of trade. This successful beginning was predicted from a high subscription to LINE’s publicly offered shares.
The guarantee money deposited by retail investors for the subscription to the IPO reached 32 trillion won (US$27.8 billion) which was over 25 times the supply during the two-day subscription from July 12.
LINE’s new shares numbered 35 million in all. The half of them went public in the Japanese stock market. The remaining half were listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of ADRs or American depository receipts, alternative stocks issued with stocks listed in Japan as security.
LINE’s market capitalization reached US$8.73 billion in terms of its closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on July 14. Naver announced that they will use funds raised though this IPO for M&As, service investment and debt redemption. With LINE’s IPOs on the US and Japanese stock exchanges as momentum, Naver and LINE are planning to develop and carry on various business as independent entities.