KakaoBank to raise up to W2.5tr in August IPO

KakaoBank, the country’s second internet-only lender, said on Monday that it would raise up to 2.5 trillion won ($2.2 million) in its initial public offering.

The banking arm of mobile giant Kakao Corp. will offer a total of 65.45 million new shares at an indicative range between 33,000 won and 39,000 won per share through its upcoming debut on August 5, the IPO application filed with the Korea Exchange showed.

The offering prices put the company’s market capitalization somewhere between 15.67 trillion won and 18.52 trillion won.

Market watchers said that the company’s valuation could dethrone the two largest financial holdings group by market capitalization, if shares in the mobile-only bank rises more than 30 percent of the upper range of the IPO price upon the market debut.

KB Financial Group’s market cap stood at 23.8 trillion won as of Monday’s closing price while that of Shinhan Financial Group was 21.6 trillion won.

The company, which was launched in July 2017, said it had 16.53 million users as of the end of May. The company’s net profit stood at 46.7 billion won in the first quarter, up 152.4 percent from 18.5 billion won from the same period last year.

For the IPO, KB Securities and Credit Suisse are lead advisors, while Citigroup, Korea Investment and Securities, Hana Financial Investment and Hyundai Motor Securities are also advisors.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)