Seoul (South Korea), May 10: SK IE Technology Co. (SKIET), a battery materials subsidiary of refinery and battery firm SK Innovation Co., is slated to debut on South Korea's main stock market Tuesday, with its post-debut price movement a focal point.
Mirroring huge investor interest, SKIET drew a record 80.9 trillion won (US$72.2 billion) in deposits from retail investors during the two-day subscription period that ended on April 29.
The amount surpassed the previous record set by SK Bioscience Co., which drew 63.6 trillion won from retail investors for its initial public offering (IPO) in March.
SKIET, a maker of lithium-ion battery separators, has set the IPO price at 105,000 won (US$93.70) per share, which will help it raise 2.2 trillion won upon its debut on the KOSPI market.
Market watchers said keen attention is now on whether SKIET shares may start at double the IPO price and then rise the daily price limit on the first trading day.
In that case, its share price would soar to 273,000 won, up 160 percent from the IPO price, with its market value reaching 19.5 trillion won.
Vaccine maker SK Bioscience, a unit of South Korea's third-largest conglomerate SK Group, and local gaming company Kakao Games Corp. posted such records upon their market debuts.
Meanwhile, major brokerage house Meritz Securities Co. has recently set its target price for SKIET at 180,000 won.
SKIET supplies battery separators to major EV makers, including Tesla and Volkswagen, accounting for 26.5 percent of the global wet separator market.
Separators are one of the key components of EV batteries, as they are important in preventing batteries from exploding in the charging process and take up about 15-20 percent of battery production costs.
SK Innovation has a controlling 62.10 percent stake in SKIET, and it plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to expand production as the wet separator market is expected to face a supply crunch beginning in 2023 in line with growing EV demand.
Source: Yonhap
