Line Trades at 15% Above IPO Price in Gray Market Before Debut
- Mobile-messaging company is largest tech listing in 2016
- Investors are reluctant to sell as Japanese shares surge
Line Plans Year's Biggest Tech IPO
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Line Corp. shares are popular in the gray market ahead of this week’s trading debut, after the largest initial public offering for a technology company so far in 2016.
Investors were willing to buy shares for 3,800 yen ($36) on Wednesday, 15 percent higher than the IPO price, according to Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. Offers to sell came in above 4,000 yen, the brokerage said. Churchill Capital Ltd.’s Singapore-based sales trader Tom Leske said he’s seeing bids at 3,900 yen versus offers at 4,200 yen. Line shares will debut in a dual listing in the U.S. on Thursday and Tokyo Friday.