OneStore to push ahead with IPO despite growing uncertainties

OneStore CEO Lee Jae-hwan gives a briefing of its company's growth potential during an IPO press conference at the Fairmont Ambassador Seoul Hotel on Yeouido, Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of OneStore

By Kim Hyun-bin

OneStore CEO Lee Jae-hwan says the company will push ahead with its scheduled initial public offering (IPO) on the KOSPI in May, despite SK Shieldus withdrawing its IPO plans, citing a lack of investor confidence.

“It is unfortunate that SK Shieldus, an affiliated company, withdrew its listing, but we plan to keep pushing ahead with the listing because the industry is different from One Store and we think there is a lot of growth potential,” Lee said during a press conference held on Yeouido in Seoul, Monday.

Last week, SK Shieldus, the cybersecurity arm of SK Telecom, withdrew its IPO plan after receiving a lackluster response from domestic and foreign investors due to growing global uncertainties.

As OneStore also faces the same stock market environment, the possibility of delisting was raised during the press conference.

OneStore recorded 1.13 trillion won ($880.7 million) in transaction value last year, and 214.2 billion won in sales. Sales grew 38 percent year-on-year (YoY), but operating losses continued. The size of the operating loss increased from 1 billion won in 2020 to 5.8 billion won last year.

Despite the challenges, Lee believes the current IPO price is “reasonable because a discount rate of 30 percent to 40 percent was applied after changing the comparison company.”

OneStore maintains a 14-percent domestic market share behind Google Play Store's 71.9 percent.

“If today's OneStore is worth 7 trillion won in the domestic market, by 2025, OneStore will be competing for the 300 trillion-won global app market,” Lee said.

OneStore will offer a total of 6.66 million shares through its IPO. The expected IPO price per share is 34,300 won to 41,700 won, and the market cap after listing is about 1.11 trillion won based on the top IPO price.

The company will be listed within a month after the demand forecasting of institutional investors is made this week.