Oasis Corp., a South Korean grocery delivery app that competes with US-listed Coupang Inc., decided to withdraw what was expected to be the nation’s largest initial public offering in five months amid difficulty in reaching expected valuation.
(Bloomberg) — Oasis Corp., a South Korean grocery delivery app that competes with US-listed Coupang Inc., decided to withdraw what was expected to be the nation’s largest initial public offering in five months amid difficulty in reaching expected valuation.
After finishing the book building for an offering expected to be as large as 206.8 billion won ($162 million), the startup cited difficulty in obtaining proper value of the company as the reason to pull the deal, according to a filing on Monday.
Korea hasn’t hosted an IPO larger than $100 million since W-Scope Chungju Plant Co.’s $333 million offering in September. Several deals were shelved last year due to valuation mismatch between what companies and shareholders were seeking and what investors were willing to pay.
Oasis’s valuation goal was seen as ambitious by analysts in a market that still remains in the doldrums. Achieving the desired valuation in share sales was cited late last year by bankers in Seoul as one of the main challenges for companies aiming to tap the domestic market.
–With assistance from Shinhye Kang.
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