Messaging app Line eyes US$1b for IPO
Print Edition
JAPAN-BASED messaging app Line said yesterday that it could raise more than US$1 billion in one of the year’s biggest share sales, as it makes its market debut this week.
The company, looking to expand on booming popularity among smartphone users in Asia, priced its shares at a top-of-the-range 3,300 yen (US$32), suggesting strong demand for the sale. Based on that price, the initial public offering will raise 115.5 billion yen (US$1.1 billion) via the sale of 35 million shares.
An option to sell more shares could put the IPO on course to raise a total of US$1.3 billion.
Line, owned by South Korea’s Naver, starts trading in New York on Thursday and in Tokyo Friday.
The sale, valuing the firm at about US$6.9 billion, is the biggest technology IPO this year, Bloomberg News reported, and the largest so far in Tokyo.
The popular app lets users make free calls, send instant messages, and post photos or short videos, along with a host of other paid services.
It combines attributes from Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp, with games and a mobile payment service also on offer.
Line’s messaging service launched in 2011 after the quake-tsunami tragedy.
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