Socar, a South Korean car-sharing startup backed by SoftBank, saw its debut on the Korea Exchange take a downward turn after its share price fell an hour after launch.
Photo credit: Socar Malaysia
Socar’s shares, which were priced at 28,000 won (US$20.80), went up in value in the initial minutes of its listing to reach 29,050 won (US$21.73) before dropping below the listing price at around 10:18 a.m. The shares were valued at 26,300 won (US$19.54) apiece at market close.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Socar CEO Park Jae-wook admitted to being “a little disappointed” but sees the IPO as a stepping stone. “We are very confident with our future performance, so I think it will go up,” he said.
Founded in 2011 by Lee Jae-woong, Socar launched its services in Malaysia in 2018 followed by Indonesia in 2020. Lee and Park were previously charged with allegations that its Korean ride-hailing service, Tada, had broken local transportation laws. Both were then acquitted of the charges.
Currency converted from Korean won to US dollar: US$1 = 1,345.96 won.
See also: Ride-hailing app earlier funded by Sea targets $7m in Octava-led round
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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