SEOUL, Dec. 11 Asia Pulse - Investors have chipped in 2.98 trillion won (US$2.51 billion) to buy initial share offerings by ReignCom Ltd., South Korea's biggest MP3 player maker, the lead manager said Wednesday.
The amount is 480.41 times more than the highly profitable company planned to sell its stocks to investors in a public offering.
The Korean company offered investors 1.32 million shares at 47,000 won (US$39.8) apiece, 94 times their paper value. It represented the highest offer price since an online game provider Webzen Inc. went public in May, said Hyundai Securities Co.
ReignCom plans to raise as much as 62 billion won from the initial share sales. Trading in ReignCom shares is expected to begin on Dec. 19 on the secondary Kosdaq market.
The company dominates South Korea's MP3 player market with a 51.6 percent share, far exceeding electronics giants such as Samsung Electronics Co., which has about 14 percent of the market.
In less than a year after launching its brand iRiver, which has a voice recorder attachment, can store thousands of digital music files and allows users to make schedules and lists, ReignCom has became the largest MP3 player company in the world in sales.
In a previous meeting with reporters, ReignCom chief executive Joon Yang said the company plans to use the fresh fund it expects to raise in developing new types of digital hardware that combine cameras, Internet surfing, e-mail and digital music players.
ReignCom is now testing a wallet-sized device that allows users to relay video images and facilitates services such as a videophone, under an alliance with U.S. software giant Microsoft.
Founded in 1999, ReignCom had 8.1 billion won in net profit on sales of 80 billion won last year. In the nine months ended Sept. 30, the company's net profit jumped to 32.1 billion won with sales of 210 billion won, nearly tripling last year's figure.
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REIGNCOM TO POST RECORD PROFITS IN 2003
SEOUL - South Korea's ReignCom Ltd. (KOSDAQ:060570 - News), the world's largest MP3 music player maker, today said it expects a record profit this year. The Seoul-based company said it expected to post 42.5 billion won (US$35.4 million) in net profit for all of 2003, up to 4 times higher than last year. Sales have probably have jumped 187 per cent to a record 230 billion won from a year earlier, the company said. It attributed its pleasing performance to exports.
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Mr. Yang (president and chief executive officer of ReignCom) said he expected MP3 players to evolve from the current simple audio devices to comprehensive digital content reproducers. "We will launch an MP3 player that can be used also as video and game player next year," he said. (2003.12.20)
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