In a news release, Line said it took into consideration how demand substantially exceeded the shares it plans to offer in setting it price, which came at the top end of the ¥ 2,900 to ¥ 3,300 target range it set previously.
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Following its listing, Line’s market capital will swell to an estimated 6,390 yen (around W7.9 trillion), making it the biggest IPO for a tech company this year. Line will also sell an additional 5.25 million shares through the “green-shoe” option, which allows the company to sell additional shares in case of excessive demand.
Line’s rival Kakao went public in 2014 by combining with a South Korean web portal service. It will begin trading on the NYSE Thursday under the ticker LN, and on the Tokyo Stock Exchange the following day.
Japan- based numero uno messaging app “Line” raised nearly $1.1 billion opened in Initial Public Offering (IPO), held today on Monday, July 12, 2016.
The company had delayed on giving a price range due to uncertainty around the impact of the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union.
Morgan Stanley is representing the global underwriters and Nomura Securities Co.is representing the Japanese underwriters. At the moment, Line has about 218 million monthly active users (MAUs), and two-thirds of those customers are located in the application’s primary markets – the three countries mentioned above as well as Indonesia and Turkmenistan. But the massive size of Line’s offering could make it even more influential for tech companies considering going public.
Line is poised to become the only publicly traded chat app. The Japan-born messaging platform, which became popular worldwide, is slated for an IPO this week.
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Line generates revenue from advertising, as well as sales of digital content such as games and stickers.
