Coupang Heading to New York Stock Market, Raising 4 Trillion Won

Bloomberg: "The 4th Largest Asian Company in U.S. Stock Market History"

Source: Bloomberg News

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Coupang, which is planning to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), announced on the 1st (local time) that its initial public offering (IPO) size will reach $3.6 billion (approximately 4 trillion KRW).

According to the listing documents submitted by Coupang to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the same day, Coupang plans to issue a total of 120 million common shares at a public offering price of $27 to $30 per share, raising up to $3.6 billion, Bloomberg reported. If the IPO succeeds, Coupang's corporate value is expected to reach up to $51 billion (approximately 57 trillion KRW).

The listing entity is Coupang LLC, the parent company of Korean Coupang located in Delaware, USA, and it is planned to be traded under the ticker 'CPNG' on the NYSE. Coupang's valuation was initially estimated at 30 trillion KRW at the start of the IPO push, but due to a significant increase in sales amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the valuation jumped to 57 trillion KRW in just over a month.

The report noted that this listing will be one of the largest Asian company listings in the U.S. If the IPO proceeds as planned, Coupang will become the fourth-largest Asian company IPO in U.S. stock market history, according to the report. So far, the largest IPO on the New York Stock Exchange was Alibaba's $25 billion IPO in 2014.

In the securities registration statement, Coupang disclosed its business performance, showing revenue growth alongside continued losses. Coupang posted $11.97 billion in revenue last year, nearly doubling compared to the previous year. Net loss was approximately $474.9 million, a 32.04% decrease from the previous year's $698.8 million.

The report predicted that SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son, who controls Coupang LLC, the listing entity, will gain significant profits from this IPO. Chairman Son became the largest shareholder by investing $1 billion through SoftBank in 2015 and an additional $2 billion through the SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF) in 2018. After the offering, SVF will own 37% of Coupang's Class A shares.

Thanks to the differential voting rights granted to Class B shares held by Coupang founder and Chairman Bum-seok Kim, which carry 29 times the voting power of common Class A shares, Chairman Kim will hold 76.7% of Coupang's voting rights after the listing.

Known as the 'Amazon of Korea,' Coupang was founded in 2010 and has recently expanded beyond its core online shopping service into new businesses such as food delivery service 'Coupang Eats' and real-time video streaming service (OTT) 'Coupang Play.'

Goldman Sachs, Allen & Company, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, Deutsche Bank, UBS Group, Mizuho Financial Group, and CLSA Securities are participating as underwriters in this IPO.