November 24, 2024

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LG Energy Solution CEO Kwon Young-soo (center) at an online press conference. (LG Energy Solution)

LG Energy Solution is offering retail investors the opportunity to submit bids for its shares ahead of what could potentially be South Korea’s biggest-ever initial public offering next week, having already attracted vastly oversubscribed institutional bids to the tune of some 15,000 trillion won ($12.6 trillion).

The world’s second-largest battery maker for electric vehicles is offering a little over 10 million shares -- nearly a quarter of the 42.5 million shares in total -- to retail investors, who will have to buy them at 300,000 won apiece, at the top of the range, until Wednesday.

Half of all shares are to be equally distributed among investors who have made bids on at least 10 shares and the rest are to be given proportionally, with investors who have paid more upfront cash snatching more shares.

A total of seven local brokerages are handling the subscriptions, with KB Securities underwriting the largest volume followed by Daishin Securities and Shinhan Investment. The three account for 91 percent of the bids.

The megasized IPO has dragged down the local stock market for the past month as investors offloaded a combined 9.4 trillion won in shares to raise capital.

With shares selling at 300,000 won apiece, LG Energy Solution is valued at 70 trillion won, trailing SK hynix and Samsung Electronics, which are worth 93 trillion won and 461 trillion won, respectively, in market value.

Analysts have said LG could easily become the second-most valuable company in South Korea, valued at 101 trillion won with its shares selling at 430,000 apiece.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)