Shares in S.Korea fintech firm Kakao Pay jump in debut (updated)

Kakaopay

03/11/2021 24:26

(Adds details, background)
    By Joyce Lee and Jihoon Lee
    SEOUL, Nov 3 (Reuters) - South Korea's Kakao Pay Corp
 377300.KS  saw its shares double in value from their initial
public offering (IPO) price on their trading debut on Wednesday.
    Kakao Pay shares opened at 180,000 won on the KOSPI  .KS11 
versus an IPO price of 90,000 won.
    The financial technology firm raised 1.5 trillion won 
($1.27 billion) from its IPO. The IPO consisted of all
newly-issued shares.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RI0LS 
    China's Ant Group  688688.SS  backed Kakao Pay plans to use
854 billion won ($724.66 million), or about 56% of the funds the
company raised after costs, for mergers and acquisitions, it
said in a regulatory filing. 
    Kakao Corp  035720.KS , operator of South Korea's dominant
chat app, remains a major shareholder with around a 48% stake.
    Ant Group's Alipay Singapore Holding has a 39% stake, and
some of its shares can be traded without a lock-up period. 
   ($1 = 1,178.8900 won)

 (Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Jacqueline Wong)
 ((joyce.lee@tr.com;))