South Korea’s Kakao Bank to raise over $2.2b in IPO

Shares were priced at the top end, at KRW39,000 ($34).

South Korea’s largest internet-only lender Kakao Bank will raise about $2.22b in its initial public offering (IPO) after its shares were priced at the top end of the pricing range, reports Reuters, according to a local bourse filing.

Shares were priced at KRW39,000 (about $34), the top of range announced at an earlier regulatory filing.

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A total of 65.5 million newly-issued shares are on offer. 

Demand was heavy, with a total of 1,667 domestic and foreign institutional investors placing bids totalling KRW2,585t—the largest amount of institutional bids ever for a South Korean IPO.

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The listing, expected to be in August, will be the country’s biggest since game company Netmarble raised KRW2.7t in its 2017 IPO.

Here’s more from Reuters.