LINE Corp., makers of a messaging app that’s gone mainstream in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan, has set a price range for an initial public offering on the Tokyo and New York Stock exchanges in July. Its shares would be priced between 2,700 and 3,200 yen, or about $26.50-$31.50 per share.
As The Wall Street Journal reported earlier today, at those prices, LINE’s IPO could raise up to 112 billion yen, or $1.09 billion, making it one of the largest technology listings so far in 2016.
A final price is expected to be set by the company on July 11.
LINE’s competition includes: Facebook-owned WhatsApp, Tencent Holdings’ WeChat and others building momentum in Asia, like Korea-based Kakao Talk. And like its competition, the LINE app offers payment and other features to generate revenue, not just “freemium” users.
As TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden reported in June, LINE initially submitted an application to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange about two years ago. It filed this year in June to go public, as well, on the New York Stock Exchange.
Last month, LINE reported 218 million monthly active users globally, with 152 million in its top four markets in Asia.