PayPay Goes Public on Nasdaq with 12-B.-Dlr Capitalization

New York, March 12 (Jiji Press)--PayPay Corp., a Japanese online payment company under SoftBank Group Corp., went public on the U.S. Nasdaq stock market Thursday.

PayPay ended its first day at 18.16 dollars per share, with its market capitalization valued at 12.1 billion dollars, or 1.9 trillion yen. This marked one of the biggest U.S. stock listings among Japanese companies.

PayPay started at 19 dollars, exceeding its initial public offering price of 16 dollars. The company enjoyed steady buying despite strong risk-averse sentiment that reflected intensifying battles involving the United States, Israel and Iran along with soaring crude oil prices.

"We will use procured funds to accelerate our growth," PayPay President Ichiro Nakayama said. "We want PayPay services to spread."

PayPay in February announced a partnership with U.S. credit card giant Visa Inc. It plans to set up a new company in the United States, its first overseas market.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]