South Korea's largest game maker will launch IPO valuation of 80 billion yuan Tencent holds 22.2%

Netmarble, the largest game maker in South Korea, will launch an IPO with a valuation of about 80 billion yuan. Prior to this, Tencent had held a 22.2% stake through an investment fund.

Original title: South Korean mobile game manufacturer Netmarble IPO valuation of 80 billion yuan Tencent holds a stake of 22.2%

, Netmarble, the largest game manufacturer in South Korea, will launch an IPO with a valuation of approximately 80 billion yuan. Prior to this, Tencent held a stake of 22.2% through an investment fund.

According to the announcement, Netmarble will sell 16.95 million new shares in late April, accounting for about 20% of its total shares. The price per share is between 745.2 and 966.9 yuan. The corresponding IPO size is between 12.66 billion and 16.43 billion yuan. Existing shares will not be sold. The final issue price will be announced on April 24, and the listing time on the Korean Stock Exchange is expected to be the end of June. If it is successfully listed, Netmarble will become South Korea's largest IPO after Samsung Life Insurance Company in 2010, which raised 4.9 trillion won.

Officials said the net fundraising will be used to deploy "a more aggressive approach to global expansion" to deal with today's competition-inspired global mobile game market. Among them, 897 billion won was used to repay debts, and 1 trillion won was used to invest in mergers and acquisitions. By 2020, Netmarble aims to become the fifth largest gaming company in the world.

Netmarble was founded in 2000 by Bang Jun-hyuk for 100 million won and is mainly engaged in mobile game R & D and operations. Flagship games include "Stone Age","Rich Man Every Day","Seven Knights" and the recently newly released "Paradise 2: Oath". Among them,"Paradise 2: Oath" has remained at the top of the best-selling list in South Korea after its release, with domestic sales reaching 1.2 billion yuan in South Korea in the first month of release. According to the financial report released by Netmarble, the company's annual revenue in 2016 was US$1.34 billion, a year-on-year increase of 40.3%, and operating profit was US$256.6 million, a year-on-year increase of 31.1%. Among them, overseas revenue accounted for 51% of total revenue, exceeding domestic revenue for the first time.

Previously, Tencent held 22.2% of the shares through an investment fund, becoming Netmarble's third largest shareholder. The first and second were founder Bang Jun-hyuk, which held 30.6% of the shares; entertainment company CJ E&M, which held 27.6%.

Netmarble is now actively pushing to enter Western markets and acquired American company Kabam's Vancouver studio and "Marvel: Battle for the Championship" in February this year. In addition, in 2015, Netmarble also acquired decryption game developer SGN (now known as Jam City) for $130 million.

Some industry analysts believe that after Netmarble's listing, its valuation will reach approximately RMB 80 - 86.3 billion. At present, Netmarble already has a large number of money-grabbing games and diversified new game product lines, but the global market environment is still full of challenges. The slowdown in the growth of the mobile game market means that competition will become more intense, and different audiences in various countries have different preferences. It is also a must be considered part of the global strategy.

Editor: Nancy