LINE Corp Rumored to Prepare for IPO
The WSJ is quoting sources that LINE has applied for IPO on Tokyo Stock Exchange to value company at $10Bn http://bit.ly/1nrKudi
Line Corp., the developer of a fast-growing smartphone messaging application, has applied for an initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange that could value the company at more than ¥1 trillion ($9.84 billion). A person familiar with the matter said Tuesday that Line will also likely submit an application for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange and could go public as early as this autumn. While it isn’t clear how large a stake Line intends to sell to the public, the IPO is expected to be one of Japan’s biggest new stock offerings this year.
Line says it has more than 480 million registered users world-wide. For the first quarter of this year, the company reported sales of ¥14.6 billion, more than triple its sales from a year earlier and up 19% from the fourth quarter. Nomura said in March that it expected up to 80 companies to list their shares in Tokyo this year, up from 58 last year, with the total value of the IPOs likely to top ¥1 trillion, more than double the amount last year. In January through June, the number of IPO deals came to 30, the highest level since 2008. There were 27 IPOs in the comparable period a year earlier, according to Dealogic. Via WSJ.