K Auction raises more than 5 trillion won at public offering before Kosdaq listing

The competition ratio for K Auction’s public offering recorded 1408.33:1 during the two-day public offering session, raising more than 5 trillion won ($4.2 billion) in subscription deposit, according to IR Kudos on Thursday.

South Korea’s second-largest auction house conducted a two-day public offering starting Wednesday, aiming to become the second auction house in the country to be traded on the junior Kosdaq exchange. The auction house is planning for a Kosdaq listing on Jan. 24.

K Auction priced its initial shares last week at 20,000 won, which is at the top end of its guidance, drawing 1,745 institutions for a competition ratio of 1,638.36:1 at a book-building session. The company submitted a prospectus for a 32 billion-won Kosdaq listing offering 1.6 million shares at an indicative range of 17,000-20,000 won per share.

Established in 2005, K Auction was the first auction house in the country to take auctions online in 2006. Its bigger rival Seoul Auction began trading on Kosdaq in 2008. The two auction houses accounted for a combined 91 percent of the market share in 2021.

By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)