Korea Web Giant Naver Mulls U.S. Bond, IPO to Take on Google
One of the few countries in the world where Google doesn’t dominate web searches is South Korea, where Naver Corp. leads the market and is also a big player in e-commerce and fintech.
But the Korean company, which now gets more than 95% of revenue domestically, wants to boost its international presence. To help with that, Naver is considering more dollar bond sales after its debut deal last month, and it’s also eyeing a possible future U.S. initial public offering for a unit, chief financial officer Park Sang-jin said in an interview.
“To grow, it’s inevitable that we go global,” according to Park, who’s been with the firm since it was founded in 1999. “We should find business opportunities and meet capable partners to supplement our assets.”
Naver rival Coupang Inc.’s U.S. IPO last month was the biggest by a Korean firm in more than a decade. It underscored the drive by companies to expand globally, as well as investors’ willingness to provide funds for that. Naver has made investments overseas recently including taking stakes in Spain’s virtual marketplace Wallapop and Canada’s Wattpad. Park said the firm is looking for more opportunities in Japan, where its Line messaging service is popular, as well as Europe, Southeast Asia and Taiwan.
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-20/korea-web-giant-naver-mulls-dollar-bonds-ipo-to-take-on-google](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-20/korea-web-giant-naver-mulls-dollar-bonds-ipo-to-take-on-google)
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