Japan’s LINE, maker of the popular messaging app, confirmed its plans for a long awaited initial public offering (IPO) in both Tokyo and New York in mid-July “to further enhance its strong position in Asia and to continue a more active global expansion.”

The firm could raise up to $1.05 billion by selling 13 million new shares in Japan and 22 million shares overseas for JPY2,800 ($26), which would value it at more than $5 billion, Reuters reported.

Parent company Naver may offer 5.25 million existing shares if there is excessive demand, which could bring the total number of shares sold to 40.25 million.

The IPO was first planned for 2014, but then got delayed. It is thought to be the biggest IPO in Japan this year.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange approved the listing of shares and LINE also plans to file a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission today (10 June), it said in a statement.

LINE expects the listing on the New York Stock Exchange to occur around 14 July, and the listing of its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to take place around 15 July, “subject to approvals by relevant authorities, the declaration of effectiveness of the registration statement by the SEC and the completion of other necessary procedures, as well as market conditions,” the statement added.

Last week, Reuters reported LINE could raise between $2 billion and $3 billion in an IPO.

Back in 2014, Naver hoped an IPO would fetch $18 billion, but by August 2015 it decided to delay plans, waiting for both its earnings and the market to improve.

Hiroyuki Nakai, chief strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center, said LINE’s timing is “bad” and it would have been better off “to list when it was growing”.

“They procrastinated and procrastinated, delayed and delayed, and in that time the market has become saturated,” he said.

An App Annie report last month said LINE owns the three top-grossing apps of all time (LINE, LINE Play and LINE Manga), “fuelled primarily by revenue in Japan”.

However, while the core messaging app has become popular outside of Japan in Taiwan and Thailand, it still does not command the same user base as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.