Shares of Appier Group Inc (沛星互動科技), which offers artificial intelligence (AI)-based software, yesterday rose above their listing price in the company’s trading debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, proceeding to raise ￥29.8 billion (US$271 million) in an initial public offering (IPO) priced at the top of its marketed range.
The Taiwanese company’s shares were priced at ￥1,600 apiece in the IPO and got a significant bounce at the open, rising as much as 37 percent in early trading before paring gains to close up 19 percent at ￥1,900.
Softbank Group Corp and ASEAN China Investment Fund III were among holders who offered shares, with Masayoshi Son’s firm holding about a 4.4 percent stake, company filings showed.
Photo: Billy H.C. Kwok, Bloomberg
While Tokyo has been attempting to attract more foreign companies amid a broader push to become a financial hub, such listings remain unusual.
Appier is the first firm from Taiwan to list in Tokyo since Trend Micro Inc’s (趨勢科技) debut in 1998, the Nikkei reported.
“Japanese investors have a high acceptance of the artificial intelligence theme and the market accounts for a large part of our revenue,” Appier cofounder and chief executive officer Yu Chih-han (游直翰) said in a news briefing, explaining why the firm chose Japan.
Appier’s debut comes amid a broader sell-off in technology shares as investors rotate out of loftily valued growth stocks into more economically sensitive sectors, such as banking.
Chinese tech names have especially slumped due to a combination of rising interest rates and increased regulatory scrutiny in the US and China.
The listing on the Mothers market follows the debut of Internet giant Baidu Inc (百度) in Hong Kong on Tuesday last week.
“Many software companies opt for the US market because software valuations tend to be higher there, but successful listings in other markets could begin to open up other opportunities for companies to consider,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matthew Kanterman said.
Last week, Appier and shareholders sold 18.6 million shares, after marketing them at ￥1,400, ￥1,500 or ￥1,600 apiece.
Appier said that its AI-based software is used by customers, including Alphabet Inc, Toyota Motor Corp and Estee Lauder Co, to improve profitability.
The company said that it plans to use the proceeds of the share sale to support growth, including funding research and development.
The company had a net loss of ￥1.45 billion on sales of ￥8.97 billion last year.
The offering was led by SMBC Nikko Securities Inc, Bank of America Corp and Mizuho Securities Co.
Facebook Inc on Wednesday reported its profit doubled in the second quarter as digital advertising surged, but warned of cooler growth in the months ahead in an update that sent its shares sinking. Profit rose to US$10.4 billion on revenue of US$29 billion, a 56 percent increase from last year, mainly from an increase in ad revenue, Facebook said. The number of people using the social network monthly climbed to 2.9 billion, a year-on-year gain of 7 percent, while about 3.5 billion people used at least one of the company’s apps, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. “We had a strong quarter, as we
FURTHER TAX MEASURES NEEDED? Corporate owners accounted for almost 30 percent of empty houses, many of which are held by firms that own 10 or more properties The number of unoccupied houses nationwide totaled 876,000 units last year, or 11.94 percent of all houses, the Ministry of the Interior said in a report issued on Thursday. Almost 30 percent of empty houses were owned by companies, suggesting that many corporate property owners engage in house hoarding, the ministry said. Excluding developers and builders, companies still owned 20 percent of empty houses, it said. The report is based on housing units’ electricity use and considers properties that use less than 60 kilowatt-hours per month as unoccupied. The study contradicts Ministry of Finance reports saying that house hoarding subsided and there is no
The Investment Commission has approved a plan by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to expand production at its plant in Nanjing, China. The plan was approved because the investment would come from the chipmaker’s earnings from the Nanjing plant and would not have an impact on its paid-in capital, the commission said. In addition, TSMC has pledged to invest NT$600 billion (US$21.43 billion) to NT$650 billion in Taiwan to create more jobs over the next three years, and has made efforts to protect intellectual property to prevent confidential business information from being leaked, it said. The
‘No SUPPLY BOTTLENECK’: Shipments would proceed as planned from the facility, which produces processors for a new line of iPhones to be launched next month Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) shipments would not be affected by the contamination of gas used in the manufacturing process at one of its key plants in Tainan, the firm said yesterday. While some TSMC production lines in Tainan’s Southern Taiwan Science Park received gas supplies that were found to be substandard, the chipmaker continued production using gas from other sources, the company said. Local media reported that the contamination was discovered at the world’s largest contract chipmaker’s Fab 18 on Thursday night and that production would be affected during four days of cleanup work. While not confirming that the contamination
RSS