By Kim Jae-heun

Market Kurly CEO Sophie Kim

Market Kurly, SSG.com and Oasis Market are concerned about their upcoming initial public offerings (IPOs) as shares of listed online retailers have plunged in line with the recent global stock market downturn, according to market analysts Thursday.

Their share values are now expected to be much lower than they used to be a month ago, meaning that they will be able to raise less money if they go public. This quandary means that they may decide to delay the IPOs until the stock market bounces back, analysts said.

Normally, a company's public offering price is calculated after referring to a listed firm's price-earnings ratio (PER) or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

With no Korean e-commerce firm listed on the local bourse, the three online retailers are left with no option but to refer to international companies like Coupang, Ocado and MissFresh when calculating their initial offering prices.

SSG.com CEO Kang Heui-seok

Market Kurly, in particular, wants to be the first company among the three to go public in the first quarter of this year. It will request the Korea Exchange within this week for a preliminary listing examination.

The problem is that both Kurly and SSG.com shares have been sputtering. Their corporate values will have to be calculated based on their gross merchandise values and finding a good comparison is important in this case. Unfortunately, all of the online retailers abroad are suffering from major corrections in their stock prices right now.

Coupang' stock price fell by 40 percent from $30.78 on Dec. 27, 2021 to $18.74 on Wednesday. Both Ocado's and MissFresh's stock prices also plunged by 18 percent in the same period on the London Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, respectively.

Kurly, which owns Market Kurly, is closely monitoring current stock market situations both in Korea and abroad. If it pushes ahead with an IPO when the market is suffering from a slump, the online grocery firm's value can be evaluated lower than expected. SSG.com and Oasis Market have a little more time than Kurly as they have not requested preliminary listing examinations.

The corporate values of Market Kurly, SSG.com and Oasis Market are currently estimated at 10 trillion won, 5 trillion won and 1 trillion won, respectively. The figures could decline if they undergo evaluation right now.

For instance, if they take Coupang as a reference, their estimated value could fall by 1.5 times reflecting the decreased stock price of the online retailer.

"Local e-commerce firms are in deep agony as the stock markets are suffering big losses everywhere. But they cannot delay their IPO schedules at the same time. This may affect their corporate values inevitably," an industry source said.

When contacted by The Korea Times, Kurly and SSG.com officials said they will proceed with their IPO plans, but did not elaborate.