9 Companies, Including SHIFTUP, Set to Go Public in July [Korean IPO market]

The domestic initial public offering (IPO) market had an eventful June, with several companies delaying their listings and having their preliminary screening approvals cancelled. However, in July, nine companies, including the trillion-dollar SHIFTUP (CEO Kim Hyungtae), are still attracting investors' attention with their public offerings.

According to the Korea Exchange (Chairman Jung Eunbo) on July 1, nine companies are offering public shares to general investors in July: SHIFTUP, Xcell Therapeutics(CEO Lee Ui-il), Bankware Global (Co-CEOs Lee Kyungjo and Lee Eunjung), Sanil Electric(CEO Park Dongseok), K3i(CEO Lee Jaeyoung), TDS Pharm(CEO Kim Cheoljoon), P&S Mechanics (CEO Park Kwanghoon), Next BioMedical (CEO Lee Donhaeng), and IVIM Technology (CEO Kim Pilhan).

The first to open the general subscription will be the game developer SHIFTUP, which will set the offering price on the same day and conduct it for two to three days. SHIFTUP is a global game developer founded in 2013 that is attempting to enter the KOSPI for the third time this year.
SHIFTUP is valued at 3.5 trillion won at the upper end of the offering price band (47,000 to 60,000 won), the highest level since HD Hyundai Marine Solutions in April, and will be ranked fourth among domestic listed game companies after Crafton, Netmarble and NCsoft. The joint lead arrangers are Korea Investment & Securities, JP Morgan Securities, and NH Investment & Securities, and the underwriter is Shinhan Investment & Securities.

SHIFTUP, which is engaged in game development for major platforms including mobile, PC, and console, will use the proceeds from the offering to expand its intellectual property (IP) and strengthen its game development infrastructure. The company plans to use the proceeds to strengthen its existing IPs such as 'Nikke' and 'Stellar Blade' and to develop a new project, 'Project Witches', which is currently under development, in order to create a sustainable growth engine.

"The sentiment of gaming companies has improved due to strong earnings in the first quarter, and the cost efficiency measures implemented since last year will be more evident in the second quarter results," said Yoon Ye-ji, a researcher at HI Investment & Securities. "We believe that the IPO of large gaming stocks is likely to be successful as the number of shares outstanding is expected to be low, which will increase the attractiveness of the offering."

Next, Excellerapharmaceuticals, a company specialising in culture media for cellular gene therapy (CGT), will hold its initial public offering on the 3-4th. The company has developed the world's first chemically composed serum-free culture medium for GMP-grade stem cells and established XPorT, a platform technology for developing cell-specific media. Based on this, the company has launched chemically formulated media for MSCs, DPCs, Keratinocytes, and exosomes, and is expanding its pipeline to include natural killer (NK) cells and T-cells. The listing was led by Daeshin Securities.

In the third week of July, core banking solution company Bankware Global will launch its public offering on the 17th and 18th. Bankware Global has developed a core banking package based on 20 years of experience in creating core systems for domestic and foreign banks, financial companies, and large enterprises, and has built a unique competitive edge. It has supplied packages to Alibaba's internet bank MyBank in China, K Bank in Korea, and Line Bank in Taiwan, and has secured more than 100 customers including financial institutions, commercial banks, savings banks, card companies, capital companies, and fintech companies in seven Asian countries. The listing was organised by Mirae Asset Securities.
Next, specialised transformer maker Sanil Electric will hold an initial public offering on the 18th and 19th. In particular, the company is attracting market attention as it is pursuing its fourth KOSPI listing this year. The company has accumulated technical know-how by providing special transformers to leading global companies for about 35 years. It has been supplying transformers to GE and Toshiba & Mitsubishi (TMEIC), which are in the inverter business in the United States and Europe, for 25 years, and has been recognised for its transformer technology by securing quality reliability. MiraeAsset Securities is the lead manager for the listing.

In the fourth week of July, on the 22nd and 23rd, XR middleware solution developer K3i, transdermal drug delivery pharmaceutical company TDS Pharm, and medical rehabilitation robotics company P&S Mechanics will make public offerings. In addition, NextBiomedical, a developer and exporter of innovative therapeutic materials (24th and 25th), and and IVIM Technology, a biotechnology company specialising in the development of biological microscopes (25th and 26th), will make public offerings.

The market expects the second half of the year to be another strong IPO season. Many companies are awaiting preliminary listing approval from the exchange, and big names such as K-Bank and The Born Korea, which submitted preliminary listing applications earlier, are expected to speed up their listings.

"The number of companies waiting for IPOs has increased due to the exchange's longer approval period, with more than 50 companies (excluding SPACs) applying for preliminary listing review from April to June," said an industry insider. "The IPOs of blue-chip affiliates of large companies are expected to accelerate from the second half of the year, and the ' separating the wheat from the chaff ' in the IPO market is expected to intensify."

Jeon HanSin (pocha@fntimes.com)