이 기사는 2021년 07월 02일 07시31분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

A blockbuster debut of South Korea’s game publisher Krafton is likely be delayed, following the request by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to revise the firm's prospectus to list on Kospi.

Krafton originally planned conduct a bookbuilding process on June 28 after submitting its registration statement on June 16. The company has sought to sell shares at between 458,000 won and 557,000 won each, which makes Krafton’s valuation at about 35.07 trillion won ($30.9 billion).

After the initial public offering (IPO) price has been revealed, market watchers have criticized for its overvalued price. Krafton’s valuation based on its IPO price is between 26 trillion won and 28 trillion won, a 17.8-32.4% discount to its valuation.

Most of Krafton’s revenue comes from its online multiplayer game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), and the company is expected to launch its new mobile title, PUBG: New State, in August, and The Callisto Protocol next year.

The authority did not specify the exact reason for the request, but the industry insiders believe it wants more clarity on how the valuation has been calculated. Krafton included nine companies in its peer group, including NetEase, Activision-Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Nexon, Take-Two Interactive, NCSoft, Netmarble, Walt Disney, and Warner Music Group.

The game publisher explained that it has included companies in industries other than the gaming industry as it plans to enter into film, drama, webtoon and animation businesses in the future. The company selected seven comparable companies, excluding EA and Nexon, which have highest and lowest values, and used their average price-to-earning ratio (PER) to reach its valuation.

However, it seems that the financial authority has questioned whether Krafton is comparable to Walt Disney and Warner Music Group as their business structures differ significantly from Krafton's. Walt Disney’s high PER of 88.8 times has also pushed up the Krafton’s valuation.

In contrast, LG Energy Solution has taken a more cautious approach to selecting its peer companies to minimize possible controversy over its IPO price.

Although LG Energy Solution’s enterprise value was once estimated to reach up to 100 trillion won, the company has apparently decided to take a conservative approach. The company has selected CATL, Samsung SDI, BYD, and Panasonic as its peers, excluding Tesla, to calculate its valuation based on enterprise value/earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EV/EBITDA).

Tesla’s EV/EBITDA for 2021 is estimated to be around 108 times, which is more than four times higher than an average EV/EBITDA of the four peer companies’ 25 times.

Industry watchers expect the Krafton’s case to have an impact on other blockbuster IPOs and the peer group selection to be one of major criteria for evaluating IPO underwriters’ performance in the future. (Reporting by Chan-mi Oh)