Line Man Wongnai targets listing as early as 2025- exec

LY

01/09/2023 05:40

By Sam Nussey
       TOKYO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Thai food delivery startup
Line Man Wongnai has begun appointing advisors to prepare for an
initial public offering and is targeting a listing as soon as
2025, according to a senior executive at the Southeast Asian
unicorn. 
    The company sees a listing in Bangkok as its base case but
would also consider a dual listing in a market such as the
United States if there is sufficient investor interest, Chief
Financial Officer In Young Chung told Reuters in an interview. 
    A succesful listing would be a landmark for startups in the
region and a win for chat app operator Line, which is part of
SoftBank's sprawling tech empire, in efforts to back growth
businesses in Asia.
    Line Man Wongnai competes with Singapore-based Grab  GRAB.O 
 and was formed in 2020 from a merger of Line Man, the Thai food
delivery business of Line, and restaurant aggregator Wongnai.
    The company last month said it had agreed to point-of-sales
system startup FoodStory and on Thursday said it is acquiring a
majority stake in payments business Rabbit Line Pay. 
    "We are in a position to really help digitalise Thailand,"
said Chung, a former Goldmen Sachs banker from South Korea who
previously worked for Line, adding that the food delivery
business is gaining market share. 
    The merits of Bangkok's stock market as a listing location
are seen as including generous tax rules, but sentiment has been
affected by political uncertainty and broader market
fluctuations.
    In the last week two large Thai firms, trading group Berli
Jucker  BJC.BK  and industrial conglomerate Siam Cement
 SCC.BK , put plans to IPO business units on hold citing
unfavourable market conditions. 
    

 (Reporting by Sam Nussey; Additional reporting by Yantoultra
Ngui; Editing by Stephen Coates)
 ((sam.nussey@tr.com;))