The battery material solution provider SK IE technology has raised $2 billion in its initial public offering (IPO), the country’s biggest in four years.
SK IE Technology has priced the offering at 105,000 won per share, the top of a marketed range, according to an exchange statement on Monday.
The portion for institutional investors was 1,883 times oversubscribed. At $2 billion, the IPO for the maker of battery separators will be South Korea’s largest since mobile game-maker Netmarble Corp. raised $2.4 billion in 2017.
A total number of 1,734 domestic and foreign institutional investors placed bids, SKIET’s filing showed, valuing total bids at 2,417 trillion won.
The parent company of SKIET, SK Innovation, said the institutional book for the IPO was almost 2,000 times covered – the largest ever for an IPO in South Korea.
The initial public offering comes as global sales of battery-powered electric cars which are expected to have reached nearly 2.5 million in 2020 and to rise by 70% in 2021, according to IHS Markit.
SKIET will offer about 8.6 million new shares in the initial public offering, raising about 898 billion won.
SK Innovation, will offer around 12.8 million existing shares in SKIET, worth about 1.3 trillion won. The parent company will own 61% of SKIET after the listing.
The batteries separators supplied by SKIET is a key component in Lithium-ion batteries, for battery makers including LG Energy Solution, SK Innovation, Panasonic Corp, Samsung SDI Co Ltd.
SK IE Technology’s IPO is being managed by Mirae Asset Securities Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., assisted by Korea Investment & Securities Co.
The Chief Executive Officer of SKIET, Rho Jae-sok, said:
“Money raised through issuance of new shares will be used for our capital expenditure investment.
Hit game developer Krafton Inc., LG Chem Ltd.’s battery business and KakaoBank Corp., Korea’s biggest mobile-only bank, are among the companies planning large offerings this year.
