SATEENG, KOSDAQ Transfer Listing... "Preparing for the Second Leap"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] SAT ENG, a KONEX-listed company, is preparing a second leap forward through a merger with IBKS No.14 SPAC.

SAT ENG, established in 2004, is a specialized manufacturer of display manufacturing equipment. It holds a product lineup that includes most manufacturing equipment applied in the display module process, such as ▲Bonding System ▲Pad Cleaner ▲Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) ▲Dispenser.

The display process consists of front-end process, cell process, module process, and inspection. Equipment for the module process requires advanced technology. SAT ENG, along with Japanese company A, and domestic companies B and C, dominate this market.

SAT ENG’s competitiveness lies in its technical capability to customize the entire module process from the early review stage with clients and to secure integrated orders through gradual expansion of product base. From the client’s perspective, receiving customized integrated orders offers advantages such as improved operation rate, reduced defect rate, and enhanced A/S efficiency, leading to overall stabilization of the equipment line and securing profitability.

With major global display manufacturers such as LG Display, FOXCONN, CSOT, and Sharp as clients, SAT ENG plans to actively respond to the OLED market and lead it based on its large display module line equipment technology.

Among display bonding technologies, the difficulty of bonding semiconductor chips such as IC and PCB with high-temperature heat is known to increase by about 3 to 4 times as the panel size grows larger.

SAT ENG has rich manufacturing experience and delivery records starting from the order of a 70-inch large line equipment in 2009 up to a maximum 128-inch module line. It is the only company in Korea with experience in orders for ultra-large lines over 100 inches, possessing unparalleled technology for large module line equipment. The high-precision side bonding technology, a core OLED technology, is a high technology secured globally only by SAT and one large domestic company. It is completely differentiated from existing methods and is expected to enable dominant growth in the expanding OLED market.

SAT ENG is also entering the secondary battery materials business through its subsidiary, Eco Chemical. Eco Chemical was spun off in 2019 to specialize and improve efficiency in SAT ENG’s battery materials business division. It has developed binders and separator additives essential for the safety of secondary batteries.

The binders and separator additives successfully localized by Eco Chemical have been among the materials highly dependent on Japan. They are evaluated to have excellent performance and price competitiveness. In December last year, production facilities were completed for mass production of the products, and product testing is currently underway.

Due to the rise in LCD panel prices caused by the ongoing impact of COVID-19 since last year, SAT ENG achieved sales of 24.75 billion KRW and operating profit of 2.19 billion KRW in the first half of this year. This represents a 177.6% increase in sales compared to the same period last year. Operating profit turned positive. Last year’s annual sales were 36.2 billion KRW, and operating profit was 2.6 billion KRW.

Meanwhile, SAT ENG is proceeding with its transfer listing to KOSDAQ through a merger with IBKS No.14 SPAC. The shareholders’ meeting for merger approval is scheduled for the 22nd of this month, and the merger ratio is 1 to 4.8440000. The scheduled listing date for the new shares from the merger is December 9.

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