Kid contents maker CarrieSoft said Aug. 7 it has dropped its plan for an initial public offering on South Korea’s secondary bourse Kosdaq this month, amid recent market volatility that weighs on investor sentiment.

“Taking into account the latest economic conditions, we are canceling our plans for listing on the Kosdaq’s development board in agreement with our IPO underwriter,” the company said in a disclosure.

It added that the withdrawal will have little impact on investors because it has yet to sell shares to either retail investors or institutional investors that joined the book building process. 

Related:
[INTERVIEW] CarrieSoft set to go global after IPO
Flitto’s Kosdaq listing fetches W38b

During Aug. 5-6, the second-tier Kosdaq fell 10.4 percent. An ongoing trade conflict between Korea and Japan, China and the US, along with biotechnology sector concerns weighed on the index, according to market watchers.

CarrieSoft’s plan to go public was aimed at raising up to 19 billion won ($15.7 million) by selling some 1.2 million shares to public, with a price band set at between 12,900 won and 16,100 won per share. The IPO subscription was scheduled to take place on Aug. 12-13. Mirae Asset Daewoo has underwritten the IPO.

The company was a candidate for the IPO procedure through a “special listing on promising business model,” which measures the potential of scalability instead of profitability.

CarrieSoft creates educational contents for kids that feature characters including Carrie, sells intellectual property rights and goods. The company vowed to make a second attempt at going public when the markets stabilize.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)