IPO in HK makes founder of mystery toymaker Pop Mart a billionaire

Pop Mart International, a trendy toy maker, saw its shares rise by as much as 100 percent during its debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday and catapulted its founder Wang Ning into the billionaires' club.

Shares of the Beijing-based company opened for trading at HK$77.1 ($9.95), nearly 100 percent higher than the initial offer price of HK$38.50. The company's IPO drew strong interest from investors and its retail offering was oversubscribed by 356 times.

After its listing, Pop Mart shares had an intraday low of HK$68 and a high of HK$81.7, before closing at HK$69, putting the company's market value at HK$95.3 billion.

Wang, the 33-year-old founder of the company, holds a 55 percent stake in the firm.

The decade-old company's main product is pop toys, products with a mix of pop culture and trendy content. Each of the toys is packed randomly in a packaging box so that its contents remain hidden or unknown to sellers and consumers alike, thereby creating a sense of suspense, surprise and expectation for the buyer.

Mystery toy boxes are not new and trace their origins to Japan. But Pop Mart has taken the trend to new heights. The company's mystery boxes, each priced at about $9, are immensely popular among the younger generation of consumers.

Wang founded Pop Mart in 2010 and quickly discovered the charm of pop toys, especially the SonnyAngel, which was a big hit. He then secured the licensing rights for a toy character named Molly designed by a Hong Kong designer. Since then he has worked as an incubator for global artists and distributor for influential intellectual properties.

The intellectual property-driven company had 114 retail stores in 33 cities and 825 roboshops, or vending machines, in 57 cities across China by the end of last year. Pop Mart also owns fast-growing online channels including its Tmall flagship store and the Pop Draw mini program.

In terms of its wholesale operations, Pop Mart has 22 distributors in China and 19 in 21 overseas markets, including South Korea, Japan, Singapore and the United States.

The company has completed eight rounds of pre-IPO fundraising, receiving 958 million yuan ($146 million) from institutional investors, including Sequoia Capital China, which holds a 4.96 percent stake in the firm.

Pop Mart's revenue rose from 158.1 million yuan in 2017 to 1.68 billion yuan in 2019, with net profit growing from 1.6 million yuan to 451.1 million yuan during the period. The company said it was the largest pop toy brand in China in terms of retail value in 2019 with a market share of 8.5 percent, outpacing all other major players, including Lego and Line Friends.

This year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping has become increasingly significant for Pop Mart. During Tmall's 2020 Singles Day shopping festival on Nov 11, Pop Mart ranked first among flagship stores of toy brands on Tmall in terms of retail value, achieving revenue of 142 million yuan, up from 82.12 million yuan in the same period a year ago.

Sinolink Securities said the pop toy market in China is valued at 20.7 billion yuan and poised to grow at an annual rate of 29.8 percent in the next five years, exceeding the growth rate of chip sector. The market is forecast to reach 60 billion yuan in the next three years.

Northeast Securities said Pop Mart has remained at the top of the market and has its own niche. With its increasingly expanded and diversified IP products, the expansion of online and offline accesses, as well as its upscale business in overseas markets, the company is set to maintain its high growth rate and long-term investment value.

Wang said earlier that his vision is to make Pop Mart a company that could become the Chinese equivalent of Disney or Netflix.