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(Yonhap) |
South Korea's initial public offering (IPO) market is expected to have another bumper year in 2022 as a slew of companies, including battery maker LG Energy Solution, are planning for stock market debuts, analysts said Sunday.
The amount of money raised via IPOs on the main and tech-heavy stock markets reached a record high of 20.8 trillion won ($17.5 billion) last year, according to industry data.
As more firms are preparing to go public with an aim of attracting more than 1 trillion won via IPOs this year, some analysts expect the value of the share sale may top last year's record.
LG Energy's IPO is widely viewed as the country's largest share sale deal for this year.
LG Energy, the wholly owned subsidiary of LG Chem Ltd., plans to offer 34 million new shares in the band of between 257,000 won and 300,000 won apiece. The company seeks to raise as much as 12.75 trillion won via the IPO.
It would be more than double the value of Samsung Life Insurance's IPO in 2010, which raised 4.89 trillion won, marking the biggest-ever debut on the main KOSPI market.
Based on its proposed IPO price, the company's market cap could reach between 60.1 trillion won and 70.2 trillion won. This could result in its market value reaching the third or fourth largest on the main bourse.
The company plans to finalize its IPO price next week and receive subscriptions from retail investors on Jan. 18-19. Its shares are expected to be listed on the main stock market on Jan. 27.
Hyundai Engineering Co., an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, is preparing to go public next month.
The company seeks to raise between 926.4 billion won and 1.21 trillion won via an IPO. Based on its proposed IPO price range, its market cap could reach up to 6.05 trillion won.
Hyundai Oilbank Co., the refining unit of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, filed for an IPO with the bourse operator last month. The company aims to trade its shares on the KOSPI market in the first half of this year.
It will be its third IPO attempt after the refiner failed to go public in 2012 and 2019.
Leading e-commerce operators are also rushing to prepare for market debuts this year.
SSG.com, the online mall arm of South Korean retail giant Shinsegae Group, and online grocery delivery platform Market Kurly, have picked lead managers for IPOs. (Yonhap)
