SoftBank-Backed Coupang Gets Debut Gain in Top 2021 U.S. IPO
South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. rose 41% in its trading debut after delivering the biggest U.S. initial public offering since Uber Technologies Inc.
Coupang, whose biggest backer is Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp., opened trading in New York Thursday at $63.50 a share, an 81% jump from the price in its upsized $4.6 billion IPO Wednesday. That briefly gave the company a market value of more than $100 billion. The shares closed at $49.25, valuing Coupang at about $84 billion.
The offering by Coupang further accelerated the pace of IPOs on U.S. exchanges this year, elevating the total raised to more than $114 billion, compared with $180 billion in all of last year, itself a record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Uber, which raised $8.1 billion in its 2019 IPO, has a market value of $110 billion. Coupang’s IPO was also the biggest by any Asia-based company in New York since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s $25 billion listing in 2014, the biggest ever in the U.S.
Coupang and its investors sold 130 million shares for $35 each in the IPO, after marketing them for $32 to $34 apiece. Late in the process, the selling stockholders increased the shares they were selling to 30 million from 20 million. The previous price range had been boosted from $27 to $30 earlier.
In an unusual move, Coupang restricted access to its IPO to fewer than 100 investors, according to people familiar with the matter. The top 25 investors were allocated about 80% of the deal, the people said.
“We were fortunate to have demand from a lot of great investors and we didn’t have room for all of the great investors out there,” Coupang’s founder and chief executive officer, Bom Kim, said in an interview Thursday. “I think we’re going to be going forward now with a wonderful group of investors, new investors as well, who share that long term vision and strategy.”