Nexon $1.2B IPO Listing On December 14

Following reports last month that online game publisher Nexon was heading for an initial public offering, the company has now set the price of the IPO at ¥91 billion ($1.2 billion). Reports in November said that the company was aiming to raise ¥100 billion ($1.3 billion) in total as part of the IPO, after moving its headquarters to Tokyo earlier this year. According to business website Reuters, Nexon has now settled for a slightly more conservative valuation, yet this is still the biggest IPO that Japan has seen this year. The company will sell shares at ¥1,300 ($16.68) each when it lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on December 14, with a market value of ¥560 billion ($7.2 billion). Takashi Matsumoto, a director at Okasan Securities, said that the recent security breach in Nexon's MapleStory game most likely led to the decreased valuation. "There has been increasing caution among investors, which is why it did not come in at the top of the ¥1,200-1,400 range," he stated. San Francisco-based social games giant Zynga also revealed just a few days ago that it has priced its own IPO, and will begin trading later this month.