SEOUL-- Krafton Inc., the video game developer behind global hit "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" (PUBG), will raise 4.3 trillion won (US$3.7 billion) in its initial public offering (IPO), the company said in a regulatory filing Thursday.
Krafton said it priced its shares at 498,000 won each at the upper end of the range announced earlier this month.
The share pricing places Krafton's valuation at 24.3 trillion won, trumping market caps of video game compatriots, such as NCSOFT Corp. at 18.4 trillion won and Netmarble Corp. at 12.2 trillion won.
The listing, scheduled for Aug. 10, is expected to be one of the largest ever on the local bourse. Samsung Life Insurance Co. holds the record for its 4.89 trillion won IPO in 2010.
While Krafton had initially sought to raise up to a record 5.6 trillion won, it lowered its pricing band after financial authorities requested revisions to its plan amid controversy of overvaluation.
Krafton has downplayed overvaluation concerns, with the company saying in an online press conference Monday that it is among a few players in the local tech and entertainment industry to hold a significant presence in the global market.
The video game maker has sold over 75 million copies of PUBG for PCs and consoles globally since its launch in 2017. The mobile version of the battle royale shooter, in which players fight each other until the last survivor, has reached 1 billion downloads globally, excluding China.
Krafton is eyeing active mergers and acquisitions after going public, with plans to spend 70 percent of the funds secured from the IPO in acquiring promising game developers.
The company is looking to expand its video game portfolio with the launch of new in-house mobile game "PUBG: New State" as early as September this year and horror game "Callisto Protocol" next year.
CEO Kim Chang-han said at the press conference that the video game maker will also focus on other media formats, with an animated series based on the PUBG universe in the works by partnering with American film producer Adi Shankar, who was involved in the hit Netflix series "Castlevania."
Source: Yonhap News Agency