Kakao Bank debuts warmly, soaring to daily ceiling to become No. 1 financial stock

Kakao Bank Corp. soared to its daily permissible ceiling on its first day on Kospi Friday, towering over earlier financial stocks, although it fell short of debuting at an IPO double win.

Shares of the online-only bank opened Friday at 53,700 won ($46.97), 37.69 percent higher than the IPO price of 39,000 won. The stock closed the day at 69,800 won after rising by the daily 30-percent limit.

It zoomed to No. 12 on the Kospi with a market cap of 33.2 trillion won, bigger than Posco and Hyundai Mobis.

In the financial category, it becomes No. 1, eclipsing KB Financial Group capitalized at 21.7 trillion won.

Kakao Bank floated a total of 475.1 million won shares.

The online bank affiliated to Kakao Corp., the operator of Kakao Talk mobile messenger that almost all Koreans use, made a big splash from the time it announced its initial public offering plan. It managed to price its IPO shares at the top end of the desired band after recording a competition ratio of 1,732.83 to 1 from book-building sessions July 20-21. Retail investors’ response was equally hot, making a subscription deposit of 58.3 trillion won, the fifth largest in Kospi's history.

Its successful debut also eased analysts’ concern that the stock may be overvalued compared to other financial firms.

Kakao Bank’s total assets stood at 29 trillion won as of March 31, 2021. Hana Financial Group, one of the country’s top four financial groups, had 476 trillion won.

Kakao Bank also came far behind in the net profit figure. It made 46.6 billion won in the first quarter, while Hana Financial Group earned 832.3 billion won.

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