Car-sharing platform Humax Mobility begins IPO process

Humax Mobility, a South Korean car-sharing and parking platform operator, is aiming to become the second mobility service firm to go public in the country, following Kospi-listed SoCar. 

The car-sharing platform on Feb. 22 picked KB Securities Co. as the bookrunner for the initial public offering, investment banking sources said. The mobility service firm will soon begin due diligence and other procedures for listing on the junior bourse Kosdaq.

Its corporate value is estimated at more than 1 trillion won ($771.5 million). The platform was valued at around 900 billion won at end-2022 when it attracted 140 billion won investment from Seoul-based ST Leaders Private Equity, Korean online portal giant Naver Corp. and NongHyup Bank.

Through the IPO, the company will boost its parking and car-sharing services as well as its electric vehicle charger business.

Humax Mobility was founded in 2019 as its parent Humax Co., a leading tech service provider, and local private equity firm STIC Investments acquired car-sharing service firm Plat. The parent company and STIC respectively hold 51% and 41.4% ownership as of end-2022.

The acquisition was led by Byun Dae-gyu, chairman of Humax Holdings Co. and a renowned entrepreneur, to ramp up the mobility business as a new growth engine while Humax’s core business, TV set-top box manufacturing, was declining.

The holding company has aggressively expanded its mobility business, spending more than 300 billion won for the acquisition of 17 firms over the past five years. 

It bought Korea’s parking service operator Hi Parking Co. for 170 billion won in August 2019 and the car-sharing platform People Car for 26 billion won in September 2020. The holding firm also purchased the country’s second-largest parking service platform AJ Park for 66.4 billion won in January 2021. 

Write to Ye-Jin Jun at ace@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.