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By Sam Nussey
TOKYO (Reuters) -Thai food delivery startup Line Man Wongnai has begun appointing advisors to prepare for an initial public offering and is targeting a listing as soon as 2025, according to a senior executive at the Southeast Asian unicorn.
The company sees a listing in Bangkok as its base case but would also consider a dual listing in a market such as the United States if there is sufficient investor interest, Chief Financial Officer In Young Chung told Reuters in an interview.
A succesful listing would be a landmark for startups in the region and a win for chat app operator Line, which is part of SoftBank’s sprawling tech empire, in efforts to back growth businesses in Asia.
Line Man Wongnai competes with Singapore-based Grab and was formed in 2020 from a merger of Line Man, the Thai food delivery business of Line, and restaurant aggregator Wongnai.
The company last month said it had agreed to point-of-sales system startup FoodStory and on Thursday said it is acquiring a majority stake in payments business Rabbit Line Pay.
“We are in a position to really help digitalise Thailand,” said Chung, a former Goldman Sachs banker from South Korea who previously worked for Line, adding that the food delivery business is gaining market share.
The merits of Bangkok’s stock market as a listing location are seen as including generous tax rules, but sentiment has been affected by political uncertainty and broader market fluctuations.
In the last week two large Thai firms, trading group Berli Jucker and industrial conglomerate Siam Cement, put plans to IPO business units on hold citing unfavourable market conditions.
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Additional reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Stephen Coates)
