S.Korean carbon trading company EcoEye seeks listing

South Korean carbon credit trading company EcoEye Co. is preparing for an initial public offering, poised to be the first listing of a firm in the sector on the country’s stock market.

Carbon credit trading is expected to grow popular as carbon offsets, permits that allow the owner to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases, are major security tokens.

South Korea last month unveiled measures to improve regulations on the issuance and trade of the tokens with an aim to allow all kinds of fractional investments next year through the legalization of the digital form of assets.

EcoEye is set to kick off the IPO process by applying for a preliminary review of its listing on the junior Kosdaq to the Korea Exchange soon, according to investment banking industry sources on Wednesday.

EcoEye, founded in 2005, started the carbon credit trading-related business in 2013. The company works in carbon credit trading and broking, the carbon reduction business, consulting and other areas while operating the country’s first carbon market information platform Carbon-i.

Its corporate value was estimated at about 400 billion won ($307.2 million). The company was known to have logged record sales of more than 60 billion won last year, up from 27 billion won in 2021 when its operating profit came in at 10.2 billion won.

If EcoEye succeeds in an IPO, its local competitors are likely to follow the suit, domestic securities industry sources said.

Write to Ye-Jin Jun at ace@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.