BofA eyes its 1st Korean IPO management with K Bank deal

Bank of America Corp. (BofA) is quickly expanding its presence in the South Korean initial public offering market, where J.P. Morgan and Citigroup Global Markets are two key players as global investment banks.

So far this year, BofA has been named for three big upcoming IPOs in Korea – cloud service provider Megazone Cloud Corp. with 6 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in corporate value, internet-only lender K Bank valued at around 5 trillion won and machine tool maker DN Solutions Co. valued at 4 trillion won.

The US multinational investment bank will act as the lead manager for K Bank’s listing and as a co-lead manager for Megazone Cloud and DN Solutions IPOs.

BofA will mark its first IPO management with K Bank deal. The online banking services provider attempted to debut on the main Kospi in 2022 with co-lead managers NH Investment & Securities Co., J.P. Morgan and Citigroup but withdrew the listing plan amid investors’ tepid interest.

As K Bank Chief Executive Choi Woo-hyung took office last December, the internet lender has prepared for its IPO again with BofA as the lead manager.

The investment bank recruited junior-level talents from Korea Investment & Securities Co. early this year to expand its IPO team.

Global investment banks’ role in Korean IPOs is expected to increase further amid the continued market boom, market insiders said. 

Write to Jeong-Cheol Bae at bjc@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.