Coupang CEO Kim Bom-seok (Coupang)

Expectations on the listing of South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang have been rising as the company’s initial public offering, which will be the fourth largest of an Asian firm on the New York Stock Exchange, is just around the corner.

Although the Korean firm based in Seoul has not yet announced the exact IPO date, it is said to have decided to list its shares next week, a source familiar with the matter told The Korea Herald.

“The listing date has been set for March 10,” said the source from the financial market.

Although the actual IPO date can change depending on market conditions, the firm is now all set to go public, the source added.

The Korean firm’s parent company, Coupang Inc., filed an IPO registration statement, known as an S-1 filing, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 12. Since then, it has been widely expected that the company will go public as early as this month, or during the April-June period at the latest.

Some local market analysts also said the rumored March 10 listing may not be off base.

“The claim for the March 10 listing does not sound unfounded,” said Park Ji-won, an analyst from local brokerage firm Kyobo Securities, citing previous market forecasts that the e-commerce firm will issue shares between March and June.

A Coupang spokesperson declined to comment on the exact listing date, only saying the IPO process is underway according to the filings reported at the SEC.

After an S-1 filing, it usually takes a month or longer before a company becomes a publicly traded entity.

In the case of SoftBank-backed online insurance firm Lemonade, the firm filed its S-1 with the SEC on June 8, 2019 and started being traded on the New York Stock Exchange less than a month later, on July 2.

It took 32 days for ride-hailing services firm Uber from its IPO filing to going public. The US platform company made its market debut also on the NYSE on May 10.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)