[Weekly HOT Stocks] Individual Investors Say "Buy SK" Amid SK Biopharm Listing Expectations

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] As SK Biopharm prepares for its KOSPI listing early next month, SK has attracted significant attention over the past week.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 20th, SK ranked first among stocks most net-purchased by individual investors over five trading days from the 15th to the 19th. During this period, individual investors net-purchased SK shares worth 244.2 billion KRW, a substantial difference compared to Hyundai Motor, which ranked second with 92.6 billion KRW.

The interest in SK is thanks to its wholly owned subsidiary SK Biopharm. SK Biopharm is a company specializing in the research and development of new drugs targeting the central nervous system (CNS) and has received FDA approval for two treatments for narcolepsy and epilepsy. SK Biopharm is scheduled to list on the KOSPI on the 2nd of next month. Following a demand forecast conducted for domestic and foreign institutional investors on the 17th and 18th, the public offering price was set at the top of the desired band at 49,000 KRW. The number of shares offered is 19.57 million, accounting for 25% of the total shares. Subscription will take place from the 23rd to the 24th.

DB Financial Investment analyst Koo Jayong explained, "The epilepsy treatment 'Xcopri™' is the first domestically developed new drug to independently handle everything from development to approval and sales, and it is expected to become a blockbuster drug with sales exceeding 1 trillion KRW." Xcopri received FDA approval for sale in November last year, and prescriptions began on the 12th of last month.

SK has established a principle of returning investment profits to shareholders over several years in the form of special dividends or other methods whenever profits arise from IPOs or asset sales, and has promised this to investors. KB Securities analyst Jung Dongik said, "The cash inflow from this SK Biopharm IPO is also expected to be used as resources for future dividend increases and share buybacks."

With expectations for SK Biopharm's listing, SK's stock price showed a three-day consecutive rise from the 15th to the 17th earlier this week. The stock price, which was 279,000 KRW on the 12th, rose to 318,000 KRW on the 17th.

There is also a forecast that the supply-demand effect of SK Biopharm will transfer to SK. Hana Financial Investment analyst Choi Jungwook said, "Institutional investors are allocated about 15% of the shares, and given the high possibility of lock-up during allocation, the circulating shares may be only about 5% in the early stages of listing. Therefore, the supply-demand effect of SK Biopharm inevitably transfers to SK, which holds SK Biopharm. I believe that investment sentiment toward SK will continue to improve until SK's stock price rises to a certain appropriate valuation level after SK Biopharm's listing."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.