IPO Giants Whose Stock Prices Fluctuate Due to Institutional Volume

On the 12th at 10 AM, Kakao Games' stock price fell 8.11% (4,300 KRW) from the previous close to 48,700 KRW

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] The stock prices of Kakao Games and SK Biopharm, considered the biggest IPOs in the second half of the year, are fluctuating due to the volume held by institutional investors.

As of 10 a.m. on the 12th, Kakao Games' stock price recorded 48,700 KRW, down 8.11% (4,300 KRW) from the previous session. During the trading session, the price even dropped to 45,300 KRW at one point.

On this day, the one-month lock-up period for 4,359,047 shares of Kakao Games held by institutional investors ended. Considering that the trading volume of Kakao Games on the 8th was 1,074,274 shares, this figure is nearly four times higher. The volume being released this time accounts for 38.65% of the total 11,277,912 shares that institutional investors received during Kakao Games' IPO. Of these, 3,093,140 shares were circulated upon listing, but 2,581,680 shares (22.89%) had a three-month lock-up period, and 1,062,670 shares (9.42%) had a six-month lock-up period. The 181,375 shares (1.61%) with a 15-day lock-up period have already been released to the market.

With the stock price recently trading above the IPO price, there is a high possibility that institutional investors will release a large volume of profit-taking sales. As of 10 a.m. on this day, the trading volume of Kakao Games was about 3.75 million shares. Kakao Games' IPO price was 25,000 KRW. Kakao Games set a new record in the IPO market with a final subscription competition rate of 1,524.85 to 1 and a deposit amount of 58.5543 trillion KRW. On the first day of listing, it achieved the so-called 'ttasang.' Ttasang means the opening price is formed at twice the IPO price, followed by hitting the upper price limit. On the second day of listing, it again hit the upper price limit, reaching a closing price of 81,100 KRW, known as 'ttasangsang.' However, the stock price then sharply declined.

Individual investors who had pinned their hopes on the stock price rise were left disappointed. According to the Korea Exchange, from the listing date on the 10th of last month until the 8th of this month, Kakao Games was the number one stock most net-purchased by individual investors across both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets. During this period, individual investors net-purchased Kakao Games shares worth 377.9 billion KRW.

SK Biopharm is not much different. For SK Biopharm, which was listed on July 2, 1,705,534 shares with a three-month lock-up period were released to the market on the 5th, causing the stock price to fall more than 10% from the previous session. Institutional investors net-sold SK Biopharm shares worth 79 billion KRW on that day. The previous trading day's closing price of SK Biopharm was 147,500 KRW, still showing a high return compared to the IPO price (49,000 KRW), so the remaining institutional volumes are also likely to realize profits. The six-month lock-up volume of SK Biopharm accounts for 4,923,063 shares, or 37.25%, of the 13,215,717 shares received by institutional investors.

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