BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset supervisor, has indicated curiosity in shopping for as much as $50 million price of shares in Webtoon Leisure Inc.-backed Naver Corp. in its preliminary public providing (IPO).
Webtoon Leisure Inc. owns Webtoon, the massively widespread South Korean platform that hosts webtoons and digital comics. It claims to have 170 million month-to-month lively customers in over 150 nations worldwide.
Webtoon Leisure filed for an inventory on the Nasdaq (the American inventory trade in New York Metropolis) in Could, hoping to capitalize on the rising reputation of webtoons and digital comics worldwide.
In accordance with to trade experiencesThe worldwide webtoons market is anticipated to succeed in USD 56.1 billion by 2028, with a compound annual development charge (CAGR) of 26.6%.
The transfer follows Blackstone Inc.’s current $1.7 billion acquisition of Infocom, proprietor of Japan’s largest e-book platform, Mecha Comedian.
Notably, BlackRock and Blackstone share widespread roots, having been based below the identical guardian firm earlier than splitting in 1994 to pursue totally different funding methods. These current investments spotlight the rising curiosity of main US monetary gamers within the booming webtoon and manga industries.
Webtoon Leisure (WBTN), backed by South Korean web big Naver Corp., introduced the pricing of its IPO on June 27, 2024, providing 15 million shares at $21 per share. The corporate raised $315 million within the preliminary providing.
The IPO closed on June 28, 2024, with Webtoon shares rising 9.5% to $23 every. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Securities and Evercore Group managed the providing.
After the issuance, Naver Corp. will retain a majority stake in Webtoon, whereas Tokyo-based LY Corp. will maintain roughly 25% of the shares.
BlackRock Inc. is the world’s largest asset supervisor, primarily targeted on managing investments in shares, bonds and different conventional monetary belongings for institutional and retail purchasers.
Supply: Webtoon Press Launch, Bloomberg
