SoftBank-Backed Coupang Opens For Trade Raising Record $4.6B In Upsized IPO Priced At $35/Share

SoftBank Group Corp (OTC: SFTBF) (OTC: SFTBY) backed South Korean e-commerce company Coupang Inc (NYSE: CPNG) and a group of existing shareholders have raised $4.6 billion to become one of the biggest U.S. listings by an Asian company, Bloomberg reports.

• Coupang priced 130 million shares at $35 per share on Wednesday, above a marketed range of $32 to $34 per share in an upsized IPO. The IPO was upsized from the previous 120 million shares and the last range price of $27 to $30 per share.
• It is the biggest U.S. IPO since Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE: UBER), which raised $8.1 billion in 2019. Coupang’s offering is also the biggest by any Asia-based company in New York since the U.S.’s biggest $25 billion IPO of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) in 2014.
• Coupang would have a market value of about $60 billion, based on the outstanding shares valued at $35 per share. The company sold 100 million new shares while existing investors offloaded 30 million shares, up from the additional 20 million.
• The biggest shareholder SoftBank Group has reaped a gain of over $16 billion from the IPO, validating the reputation of founder Masayoshi Son in picking successful start-ups despite several gaffes.
• SoftBank’s Vision Fund invested $2 billion in the company in November 2018 in a deal valuing Coupang at $9 billion. In the 2015 funding round of $1 billion from SoftBank, the start-up at about $5 billion.
• Founded in 2010 by a Harvard University dropout Bom Kim, Coupang has grown into Korea’s version of Amazon.Com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN).
• The company has aggressively expanded its delivery and logistics operations and new business lines like food delivery and streaming services.
• Coupang shares begin trading on the NYSE today under the symbol CPNG. It opened for trade at $63.50.
• Price action: CPNG is trading near $57, 63% higher than the $35 price tag on the last check Thursday