The Second Big IPO of the Year by SK IET... "We Will Solidify Our Global Leading Position"

Minimum public offering price 78,000 KRW... Up to 2.2 trillion KRW funding possible
Positive for SK Inno... LG Chem expected to secure lawsuit settlement funds

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] SK Innovation's materials business subsidiary SK IE Technology (hereinafter SKIET) will debut on the domestic stock market next month. It is expected to be the biggest IPO in the first half of the year, surpassing SK Bioscience in scale. With the funds raised, SKIET plans to further strengthen its global top-tier competitiveness while also covering the litigation settlement payment that its parent company SK Innovation must pay to LG Chem.

On the 22nd, SKIET held an IPO briefing session at a hotel in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, where it announced its vision and business strategy post-listing. No Jaeseok, CEO of SKIET, stated, "We will continuously increase our market share in the explosively growing premium separator market to firmly establish our leading position. We aim to successfully complete the IPO and enhance our business competitiveness to contribute to the electric vehicle industry ecosystem."

SKIET recorded sales of 469.3 billion KRW last year, a 78.4% increase compared to the previous year (from Q2 to Q4 of 2019, the period after the spin-off). Operating profit and net income reached 125.2 billion KRW and 88.2 billion KRW respectively, increasing by 55.4% and 38.4% year-on-year. According to market research firm SNE Research, SKIET held a 26.5% share of the 'Tier 1' wet separator market last year, ranking first globally. Tier 1 separators are supplied to electric vehicles produced by Tesla, Volkswagen, Renault-Nissan, Ford, Hyundai Motor, and Kia. Since the Tier 1 market is expected to account for 69% of the total wet separator market for electric vehicles by 2025, SKIET plans to invest the funds raised through the IPO into R&D and facility investments to maintain its solid position.

The total number of shares offered by SKIET is 21.39 million. The desired price range per share is 78,000 to 105,000 KRW. This already surpasses the IPO price of 65,000 KRW set by SK Bioscience, which was considered the biggest IPO this year. It ranks second after the highest-ever IPO price of 135,000 KRW by HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment).

Through this offering, SKIET is expected to raise between 1.6668 trillion and 2.2459 trillion KRW. Considering that 60% of the shares are secondary sales, if the upper limit of the price range is confirmed, the parent company SK Innovation will secure 1.3475 trillion KRW. This will instantly cover about 60% of the 2 trillion KRW settlement payment related to the battery litigation with LG Chem.

Following the listings of SK Bioscience and SKIET, there is speculation that semiconductor wafer manufacturer SK Siltron may also go public, indicating a transformation in the SK Group's business portfolio. An industry insider commented, "Until recently, SK was mainly focused on refining and telecommunications, but as the proportions of electric vehicle batteries, bio, and semiconductors increase, the overall color of the group is changing."

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