LS Materials seeks November listing in $60 mn IPO

LS Materials Co., a South Korean energy storage devices maker, on Monday submitted a securities report to the Korea Exchange for an initial public offering on the KOSDAQ junior market.

According to its regulatory filing, the subsidiary of LS Cable & System Ltd. is seeking to raise between 64.4 billion won and 80.4 billion won ($48 million-$59 million) in the IPO around the end of November.

It is seeking to offer a total of 14.63 million shares at 4,400 won to 5,500 won apiece, of which new shares account for 60%.

Its second-largest shareholder Keistone Partners is offloading its entire stake, or 40% of LS Materials' outstanding shares, to recoup up to 32.2 billion won.

The proceeds from new share sales will be used to expand infrastructure facilities for its core ultracapacitors business, R&D and overseas operations.

KB Securities Co. and Kiwoom Securities are joint bookrunners for the IPO, for which LS Cable got a preliminary nod from the Korea Exchange on Thursday.

LS Materials will set its IPO price after bookbuilding between Nov. 7 and 13. It will receive bids from retail investors on Nov. 16 and 17.

Based on the price guidance, its market capitalization is estimated at 297.7 billion won to 372.1 billion won.

LS Materials split off from LS Mtron Ltd. in 2021. It specializes in manufacturing ultracapacitors, high-capacity energy storage devices.

It is the world’s No. 1 player in the market of large-size ultracapacitors, which stabilize power supply and are used to replace and supplement primary batteries and lithium-ion batteries.

The company is also beefing up the aluminum alloy business via its unit LS Alsco Co. as a new growth driver. Its aluminum parts are used in electric vehicles and supplied to Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. since 2019.

Its largest shareholder LS Cable & System Ltd. has agreed to set up a joint venture with Austria’s Hammerer Aluminium Industries GmbH (HAI), the world’s No. 1 producer of aluminum parts for EVs, to develop light but strong EV parts.

LS Cable owns 50% of LS Materials, followed by KStone Partners.

The cable manufacturer is 92% controlled by LS Corp., a holding company.

Write to Seok-Cheol Choi at Dolsoi@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article