Major flea market app Mercari Inc. debuted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mothers section on Tuesday, fetching 5,000 yen in its initial trade. This far exceeded the initial public offering price of 3,000 yen.
Mercari closed at 5,300 yen in the Mothers section, which is for high-growth startup companies.
With the initial price, the firm's market capitalization stood at more than 680 billion yen, making it the highest debut in the Mothers section this year, far above Mixi Inc., a major social networking site. Mercari's value is also one of the highest in the market.
The price temporarily rose to 6,000 yen to hit the maximum allowable single-day gain. At that point, the market capitalization soared to about 810 billion yen, becoming the highest-valued company in what is known as emerging company markets, exceeding the about 790 billion yen of McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan).
Mercari started an app service in 2013 that allows users to buy and sell secondhand and other items. Its users are rapidly increasing, especially among women in their 20s and 30s, because it allows users to easily buy and sell items via their smartphones. Mercari will use the funds raised through its listing for promotional campaigns and the development of new services to increase its users in Japan and abroad.
The number of newly listed companies in Japan exceeded 200 in the year 2000, in the final days of the information technology bubble, but it fell to 19 in 2009, shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. According to the TSE, the figure has stayed at more than 80 annually since 2014.
SG Holdings Co., the holding company of Sagawa Express Co., was listed on the First Section of the TSE in December. Its market capitalization based on the closing price was over 600 billion yen.
"IPOs have been on the rise recently. There might be 100 cases this year," said a spokesman of a major securities company.
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