thebell

전체기사

Kakao Mobility restarts process to pick IPO underwriters Mobility unit of Korean platform giant Kakao aims to go public next year

Translated by Ryu Ho-joung 공개 2021-11-26 08:21:16

이 기사는 2021년 11월 26일 08:19 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Kakao Mobility, the mobility unit of South Korea’s platform giant Kakao Corp, has restarted a process to select underwriters for an initial public offering next year, about three months after political and public criticism over its aggressive expansion put a halt to the process.

A request for proposals was sent earlier this week to the country’s major securities firms and some mid-sized ones, according to industry sources. The deadline for proposals is November 26, with presentations by each firm expected to follow soon.

The move comes after Kakao Mobility’s IPO process was postponed in August amid growing criticism that its rapid pace of expansion could hurt small business owners. Although the process had been officially halted, Kakao Mobility is said to have continued preparations for the IPO internally over the last three months.

Kakao Mobility promised its financial investors in 2017 that it would complete a listing by 2022. With just about a year to go until the deadline, Kakao Mobility presumably wants to finish the process of selecting underwriters as soon as possible.

The successful listing of Kakao Pay – which made its 1.53 trillion won ($1.3 billion) stock market debut earlier this month – also gave confidence to the mobility services company that investor appetite will not be affected much by tightened regulatory scrutiny on Kakao’s affiliates.

This was the reason that many of the country’s securities firms have continued to pay attention to Kakao Mobility in the past three months in anticipation of the relaunch of its IPO. Especially, some major securities houses that were excluded from the earlier IPOs of Kakao Bank and Kakao Pay because of conflicts of interest are eager to strengthen a relationship with Kakao Group by winning the lead advisory role for the offering.

Kakao Mobility, valued at between 8 trillion won and 9 trillion won in the over-the-counter market, is estimated to be valued in the IPO at between 6 trillion won and 7 trillion won.

A focus on equity story

Kakao Mobility stopped its premium taxi-hailing service, Smart Call, in September following a strong backlash from the public and the taxi industry. With an absence of the service – which was considered an important pillar of Kakao Mobility’s growth strategy – how each firm presents the company’s mid to long-term growth roadmap will be one of the deciding factors in the competition.

Kakao Mobility is said to have asked securities houses to focus on Mobility-as-a-Service, known as MaaS, as its future growth driver. Growth through acquisitions, its usual strategy to get the upper hand in the mobility market, also needs to be included in the growth roadmap.

Kakao Group’s coexistence plans are likely to be integrated into Kakao Mobility’s growth strategy in the long term as well considering the need to improve its uneasy relationship with the taxi industry. (Reporting by Seok-cheol Choi)
< 저작권자 ⓒ 자본시장 미디어 'thebell', 무단 전재, 재배포 및 AI학습 이용 금지 >
주)더벨 주소서울시 종로구 청계천로 41 영풍빌딩 5층, 6층대표/발행인성화용 편집인이진우 등록번호서울아00483
등록년월일2007.12.27 / 제호 : 더벨(thebell) 발행년월일2007.12.30청소년보호관리책임자김용관
문의TEL : 02-724-4100 / FAX : 02-724-4109서비스 문의 및 PC 초기화TEL : 02-724-4102기술 및 장애문의TEL : 02-724-4159

더벨의 모든 기사(콘텐트)는 저작권법의 보호를 받으며, 무단 전재 및 복사와 배포 등을 금지합니다.

copyright ⓒ thebell all rights reserved.