South Korean financial services app Kakao Pay Corp(377300.KS)more than doubled in its trading debut on Wednesday, zooming ahead of the country's established finance companies in value, as investors were enticed by its growth prospects.
The stellar showing of Kakao Pay comes as a relief for investors who were worried about South Korea's heightened regulatory scrutiny of internet-based financial "platform" companies, and could indicate that an IPO boom in the country has room to run.
Shares of Kakao Pay, which is backed by China's Ant Group, climbed to 193,000 won by early afternoon on Wednesday after opening at double the IPO price of 90,000 won.
That gave it a market capitalisation of 25.1 trillion won ($21.24 billion), more than KB Financial's 23.1 trillion won and behind only the 28.1 trillion won of affiliate Kakao Bank - which listed in August - among financial companies.
"The red-hot IPO demand may have peaked sometime earlier but the market is still very friendly to platform business IPOs. Kakao Pay's solid debut is proof and dispelled concerns about regulatory issues," said Sung Jong-hwa, analyst at eBest Investment & Securities.
"Among platform businesses, content and mobility listings will likely follow fintech next year."
Kakao Pay raised 1.5 trillion won from its IPO, but only after a regulator's warning led it to delay the offering by about a month and trim an indicative price range.
Valuation concerns had pummelled Krafton Inc(259960.KS), the South Korean company behind blockbuster video game "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds" (PUBG), in its trading debut in August.
精彩评论