This photo provided by ONE store on May 9, 2022, shows CEO Lee Jae-hwan speaking at a press conference in Seoul on the company’s plan for an initial public offering (IPO) this month.
SEOUL, May 9 (Korea Bizwire) — ONE store Co., a South Korean mobile app market platform, will go public this month as planned, its CEO said Monday, amid concerns its initial public offering (IPO) may draw weaker-than-expected demand in the face of lackluster market conditions.
ONE store, the No. 2 mobile app market operator here after Google Play store, plans to complete a two-day IPO subscription for institutional investors by Tuesday and for retail investors on Thursday and Friday.
The mobile app market operator wants its IPO price to be set between 34,300 won (US$27) and 41,700 won, with its market capitalization reaching up to 1.1 trillion won.
ONE store’s IPO push came as its affiliate SK shieldus has nixed its IPO plan over lackluster investor confidence,
SK shieldus, a cybersecurity service provider under SK Square Co., which also controls ONE store, announced Friday that it decided to postpone its IPO, about a month after reporting an IPO plan.
“Its regretful and unfortunate that our affiliate has scrapped its IPO plan, but we plan to go forward despite difficulties, as our company is in a different industry, and we believe we have great growth potential,” ONE store CEO Lee Jae-hwan said at a press conference in Seoul.
Kim Sang-don, chief financial officer of ONE store, said the company sees business opportunities from its envisioned IPO outweighing concerns of financial uncertainties from weak investor sentiment amid monetary tightening around the globe and economic recession woes.
Kim said the company needed to create the “opportunity to advance globally or grow further” through the IPO funds.
ONE store logged 214 billion won in sales last year and an operating loss of 5.8 billion won. The company racked up 1.13 trillion won worth of transactions on its platform last year.
Its market share in the local mobile app market stands at some 14 percent, with Google Play’s presence coming in at 71.9 percent.
(Yonhap)
