SEOUL – South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang has raised US$4.2 billion (RM17.26 billion) in its initial public offering that makes it the biggest listing in the United States so far this year.
The Seoul-based firm, backed by Japan’s SoftBank, has shaken up the South Korean retail sector since launching 11 years ago with a platform guaranteeing same-day delivery, which helped turn it into the tech-savvy nation’s online market leader.
In a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission submitted yesterday, Coupang said it had sold 120 million shares in the IPO at US$35 apiece – above its initial target range of US$27-US$30 – giving it a market value of US$60 billion.
It will debut on the New York Stock Exchange today under the symbol CPNG.
The blockbuster listing – the biggest in New York since Alibaba’s US record US$25 billion offering in 2014 – will make an overnight billionaire of founder Kim Bom-suk, with the 42-year-old CEO’s 10% holding worth around US$6 billion.
SoftBank, Coupang’s biggest shareholder, also stands to make US$16 billion, according to Bloomberg News. The Japanese conglomerate invested US$1 billion in the firm in 2015, in a deal that valued it at US$5 billion. That was followed three years later by another US$2 billion funding from SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which said the firm was worth US$9 billion, Bloomberg said.
With many flocking to shop online during the coronavirus pandemic, the e-commerce giant’s net revenue jumped 91% on-year to US$11.9 billion in 2020.
But its combined net losses for the fiscal years from 2018 to 2020 came in at more than US$2.2 billion, said the filing, which added: “We may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve or maintain profitability in future periods.” – AFP, March 11, 2021
