SK On to raise W1tr via rights offering

SK On is looking to raise 1 trillion won ($755 million) through a rights offering as the battery maker continues efforts to improve its financial structure amid ongoing losses due to the sluggish growth of the electric vehicle market.

Parent company SK Innovation announced in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that it plans to issue about 18 million new shares of SK On at a price of 55,458 won.

The rights offering will take place in the form of a price return swap, through which a business guarantees the value of an equity instrument to investors.

If SK On’s share price is lower than 55,458 won when investors decide to sell their stock, SK On has to pay them the difference. But If SK On’s share price is higher than 55,458 won, the investors have to pay the difference to the battery maker.

Five companies, including Korea Investment & Securities, have decided to take part in the rights offering. The payment date is Oct. 15.

New investment in the battery maker despite the slowing EV transformation represents a belief in projections of a fully electrified future and the anticipated rise of SK On’s stock price.

SK Innovation said the rights offering is aimed at management goals that include the improvement of SK On’s financial structure, and maintaining its battery subsidiary as a major part of the company’s future growth.

SK On logged 1.55 trillion won in sales and an operating loss of 460 billion won in the second quarter of this year, marking its 11th consecutive quarterly loss. In spite of the mounting losses, the battery maker poured in 6.79 trillion won for setting up facilities last year and plans to spend 7.5 trillion won this year for the same purpose.

In July this year, SK Innovation announced a merger of SK On with SK Trading International and SK Enterm. As SK Trading International and SK Enterm are financially better positioned with reliable cash flows and smaller capital expenditures, SK On is expected to make a turnaround through the newly formed entity.

The battery maker is pinning hopes on clinching new supply contracts with global automakers and increasing the operation rate of its plants worldwide with the aim of reaching the black for the first time before the end of the year.