- A successful IPO would be South Korea’s biggest since 2010
- Korean game publisher’s titles include Lineage 2 Revolution
Netmarble Games Corp. will raise as much as $2.3 billion after pricing its initial public offering at the top of its targeted range, amassing funds to get into new markets and titles.
The South Korean mobile games company will sell 17 million new shares to raise as much as 2.66 trillion won ($2.3 billion) in the country’s largest listing since 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. At that price, the Lineage developer will be valued at more than $11 billion, outstripping rivals such as Nexon Co.
Founded by Bang Jun-hyuk in 2000 with 100 million won, Netmarble is the ninth-largest game publisher in the world, according to researcher App Annie. It wants to capitalize on rising demand for games as smartphone adoption grows outside of its core markets of the U.S., China, South Korea and Japan. A public float will help bankroll a shopping spree that could amount to as much as 5 trillion won in coming years, Chief Executive Officer Kwon Young-sig told reporters this week.
“Netmarble can use much of the proceeds from its planned IPO to invest in developing new franchises or for M&A to grow beyond its major markets,” Anthea Lai, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote this month. “Netmarble can also look to build or buy developers to enter new game genres and diversify sales.”
Biggest Since 2010
Netmarble’s debut will be Korea’s biggest…