Books close this week and pricing is expected to be
finalised on Monday, said the source, who declined to be identified because the
information was confidential.
Shift Up said nothing had been decided on pricing yet, with
it to be determined after the bookbuilding process ended.
If finalised, the pricing would give the game developer a
market capitalisation of 3.5 trillion won ($2.52 billion).
Tencent is Shift Up’s second-largest shareholder with a 40%
stake, which is expected to shrink to about 35% after the public offering,
analysts said. The largest shareholder Is founder and CEO Kim Hyung-tae.
Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Shift Up, which debuted its first game “Destiny Child” in
2016, succeeded with mobile game “Goddess of Victory: Nikke” which has booked
255 billion won in sales between its global launch in late 2022 and the first
quarter of 2024.
Its latest title “Stellar Blade” released on PlayStation 5
in April with an exclusive publishing deal with Sony, hit No. 1 in Japan’s
PlayStation download rankings and No. 2 in North America, analysts said.
Shift Up reported an operating profit of 111 billion won in
2023 out of 169 billion won in revenue. This compares with a 18 billion won
operating profit in 2022, according to a company filing.
It Is expected to list sometime in July.
It follows South Korea-originating online comics platform
Webtoon Entertainment pricing its U.S. IPO at the top of its indicated range on
Wednesday, as it sought to raise about $315 million.