DoubleDown Interactive picks new IPO underwriter for Nasdaq listing

South Korean social casino game developer and publisher DoubleDown Interactive has accelerated an initial public offering push to debut on the tech-heavy Nasdaq bourse in the US by picking an additional lead manager, its parent company DoubleU Games said Thursday.

According to the officials, DoubleDown Interactive chose B. Riley Securities as its new joint underwriter for the IPO along with the previously selected Macquarie Capital. The update on the underwriting company has been made through a filing reported at the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

The social casino game developer and publisher kicked off its IPO process at first last year, but it suddenly scrapped the plan. It again geared up for the Nasdaq debut process by submitting an F-1 filing to the SEC in March, hoping to go public in the first half of the year.

The firm, however, faced another hurdle as its formerly picked underwriter group -- J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities and Macquarie Capital -- pushed back the listing schedule with no time limit. Following the negotiation breakdown between DoubleDown Interactive and the underwriters, the IPO schedule has been delayed once again.

A DoubleU Games official told The Korea Herald that it will push for the subsidiary’s IPO process again and, subsequently, a soft landing on the Nasdaq within this year.

Following the news of the company‘s Nasdaq IPO push, its parent company’s stock gained up to 4.1 percent in early morning trading. The shares, however, had inched down 0.49 percent to close at 60,700 won amid a slump in Seoul stocks.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)