Netmarble Games, South Korea‘s No.1 mobile game developer and publisher, is expected to seek listing on the country’s main bourse instead of the tech-heavy KOSDAQ or overseas, sources said Friday.

“Netmarble has internally decided to seek listing on the local bourse,” one of the sources said. “Given the scale of the company, the likelihood is that it will be the main bourse rather than the KOSDAQ.”


The company is expected to request an initial public offering review with the Korea Exchange as early as in May and no later than September.

Netmarble‘s market capitalization is estimated at around 10 trillion won ($8.53 billion), putting it nearly on par with LG Electronics ranked currently at 26th.

On Thursday, the company picked four underwriters for its initial public offering -- JP Morgan, Citi Group Global Markets Securities, NH Investment & Securities and Korea Investment & Securities.

The company is expected to request an IPO review with the Korea Exchange as early as in May and no later than September. Netmarble has said the funds raised from the listing would be used for mergers and acquisitions, global marketing and future investments.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)