For Second Phase Growth
Kakao successfully attracted investment from foreign institutional investors and would invest in M&As and artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the future.
Kakao will embark on a global M&A hunt after securing US$1 billion in funds. Webtoon application 'PicoMA' is expected to hit the Japanese market where PicoMA is gaining in popularity first and to tap into overseas markets.
On January 18, Kakao announced that the company successfully attracted investment from foreign institutional investors and would invest in M&As and artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the future.
Kakao announced the issuance of global depositary receipts (GDRs) on December 15 last year and held overseas road shows in major financial markets including Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, London, Boston and San Francisco. Investor relations meetings which were originally scheduled for 36 times rose to 55 times in total while garnering much attention from local markets. Subscriptions flooded in subsequent demand forecasts, finalizing GDR issuance. The GDRs are expected to be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange in early February. A total of new 8,261,731 GDRs with a discount of 3.7% will be issued at US$ 121.04 at the close of the market on January 17.
Kakao is planning to take over Korean and foreign contents companies such as game and webtoon companies and invest in domestic and foreign companies related to the 4th industry such as artificial intelligence (AI) developers. "We will do everything in our power to maximize shareholder value by pushing forward with M&As mainly with companies with future growth and business potential and securing new growth engines," said Park Sung-hoon, chief strategy officer (CSO) of Kakao.
In the above-mentioned IR road shows of last year, CSO Park explained that Kakao laid the foundation for the first-phase growth by taking over companies and spinning off main business divisions and was preparing to take off for the second-phase growth in 2018 along with the introduction of Kakao.