Bookclub Millie files application to be listed on Kosdaq

Bookclub Millie's logo

Bookclub Millie, an e-book subscription service provider in Korea, filed an application on Friday to be listed on the Kosdaq market.

The company did not disclose the desired price band, but Bookclub Millie's potential market capitalization is estimated at around 300 billion won ($241 million) by market analysts, according to local press reports. Bookclub Millie plans to offer 2 million shares for public subscription, out of some 8.2 million shares.

The goal of the initial public offering is to expand investments in content offerings, including Bookclub Millie's original content, said KT.

Genie Music, mobile carrier KT’s music streaming service, acquired a 39 percent share of Bookclub Millie last September and became its largest shareholder. Genie Music’s largest shareholder is KT’s wholly-owned subsidiary KT Studio Genie, with 36 percent ownership.

Bookclub Millie aims to start trading on the Kosdaq within this year despite seeing losses. The company logged a net loss of 34.8 billion won last year, which was three times bigger than the previous year’s net loss of 11.1 billion won. Despite the losses, an easing of listing regulations by the Korea Exchange (KRX) in 2017 means the Bookclub Millie can qualify for initial public offering.

The company’s revenue increased 61 percent on year to 28.9 billion won in 2021.

KRX allows a company satisfying certain qualifications — which include a market cap of over 50 billion won, yearly revenue surpassing 30 billion won, an annual sales growth rate of more than 20 percent over the previous two years, or a market cap of more than 50 billion won and price-to-book ratio exceeding 200 percent — to go public on the Kosdaq market even if the company fails to meet the regular requirements, on the condition of providing the put back option for the subscribers. The put back option mandates the underwriters to buy the company stocks from the retail investors at 90 percent of the issuing price when the stock is trading below the initial price for a certain amount of time.

Mirae Asset Securities will supervise the listing of Bookclub Millie, said KT.

Based in Seoul, Bookclub Millie was established in July 2016. About 110,000 pieces of audio content including e-books from 1,400 publishers are available through the service, according to the company. Bookclub Millie began to offer Korea’s first monthly subscription plan for e-books in 2019, and has garnered over 4.5 million subscribers as of April, up 50 percent from a year earlier.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]