S.Korea Krafton's $5 bln IPO could be delayed by up to a fortnight -sources (updated)

Samsung Life Insurance

28/06/2021 10:54

(Adds deal detail)
    By Scott Murdoch and Heekyong Yang
    HONG KONG/SEOUL, June 28 (Reuters) - South Korean game
developer Krafton Inc  259960.KS  said on Monday it will
resubmit an application for a $5 billion domestic listing after
the financial regulator raised some questions on the
application, which sources said would delay its listing.
    "Krafton plans to revise our IPO registration statement in
response to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)'s request,"
the company told Reuters in a text message. 
    The delay of the initial public offering (IPO), set to be
South Korea's biggest ever, could be for up to a fortnight as a
result of the regulatory review, according to two people with
direct knowledge of the matter. The developer of smash hit game
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds was due to list on the Korean
stock exchange in mid-July. 
    The regulator was reviewing the company's listing documents
but had not identified any major issue, one of the people said.
    In its message, Krafton declined to comment on the IPO's
delay.
    The two sources could not be named as the information was
not yet made public.
    Krafton said in a regulatory filing on Friday that the FSS
requested the company to resubmit the IPO registration statement
because it considered the company's filing to have fallen into
one of three possible categories: not have had a proper format;
contained false information or an omission of important facts;
or included unclear statements that might undermine investors'
reasonable judgment or lead to serious misunderstanding.
    If the company does not submit the revised registration
statement within three months, the previously submitted
statement will be considered withdrawn, according to local
regulations.
    Krafton had been pressing on its with IPO, meeting investors
over the past fortnight and was due to hold more briefings this
week before the deal was delayed, one of the people said.
    Krafton said in a regulatory filing on June 16 it expected
to offer 10 million shares, or 7 million new shares and 3
million existing shares, at an indicative range of
458,000-557,000 won per share.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2NY00C
    The IPO would have valued the company at about $30.9
billion. 
    At $5 billion-plus, Krafton would become the biggest IPO in
South Korea since the 4.9 trillion won ($4.4 billion) float of
Samsung Life Insurance in 2010, exchange data shows.
    Krafton's second largest shareholder is Tencent Holdings Ltd
 0700.HK , which owns 15.35% of the company through an
investment vehicle, according to the IPO filings.

 (Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
 ((Scott.Murdoch@thomsonreuters.com;))