Shares in a newly listed South Korean digital bank and an Indonesian e-commerce group both soared Friday, pointing to investor appetite for tech deals in emerging markets across Asia.
In Seoul, shares in KakaoBank Corp. leapt nearly 79% from their initial public offering price, valuing the online lender at the equivalent of about $31 billion. The company is partly owned by Kakao Corp., the operator of a popular messaging app in South Korea.
The surge lifted KakaoBank’s valuation above those of the country’s two largest banks, KB Financial Group Inc. and Shinhan Financial Group Co. , which both have market capitalizations of roughly $18 billion, according to FactSet.
Meanwhile in Jakarta, shares in online-mall operator PT Bukalapak.com rose by the maximum 25% daily limit on their first day of trading. Bukalapak had earlier raised about $1.5 billion in what was Indonesia’s largest-ever IPO.
Online businesses across the region are enjoying swift growth and many unicorns, or startups worth at least $1 billion, are either preparing to go public, have done so recently, or have raised new funds privately at rapidly rising valuations.
The deal making contrasts with a tougher period for tech companies in China, which has long been home to many of the most valuable online platforms outside the U.S.
In November, Chinese authorities stopped Ant Group Co., Jack Ma’s financial-technology giant, from going public in what would have been the world’s biggest-ever IPO. Since then, tech has been a major target in an intensifying corporate crackdown, putting pressure on the stocks of China’s big new-economy companies.
While tech shares elsewhere in Asia have been buoyant, investors were aware of the regulatory shocks in China, said Yoojeong Oh, investment director for Asian equities at Aberdeen Standard Investments.
“We are mindful of valuations and of the importance of paying the right price for these high-growth tech IPOs, no matter how exciting they look,” Ms. Oh added.
KakaoBank is one of several big technology startups to emerge in South Korea, which boasts an affluent, tech-savvy population and fast mobile broadband. New businesses are flourishing in areas such as biotechnology, ride-hailing and online payments.
South Korean e-commerce heavyweight Coupang Inc. went public in the U.S. in March, while more recently the company behind Toss, a financial superapp that offers a range of services, raised money privately at a valuation of more than $7 billion. KakaoBank’s sister company, Kakao Pay, is among other groups considering listings in Seoul.
Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore-headquartered Grab Holdings Inc. is gearing up to join the Nasdaq Stock Market via a deal with a SPAC, or special-purpose acquisition company.
In India, a range of online businesses are also planning public offerings—including One97 Communications Ltd., the operator of the Paytm digital-finance app, which has filed documents for a listing worth up to $2.2 billion.
In China, meanwhile, investors, analysts and company executives believe the government is just getting started in its push to realign the relationship between private business and the state, with a goal of ensuring companies do more to serve the Communist Party’s economic, social and national-security concerns.
—Yi Wei Wong contributed to this article.
Write to Frances Yoon at [email protected]
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