F&B chain operator TheBorn Korea eyes IPO in 2024

South Korea’s leading food and beverage group TheBorn Korea Inc., which operates 25 restaurant and café chains in domestic and global markets, aims to go public this year after it shelved plans to go public on the main Kospi in 2018, banking sources said on Thursday.

With its record revenue for the last year, TheBorn Korea will file a preliminary review application to Korea Exchange around June, a banking source said.  

The F&B chain operator led by Korean chef and broadcaster Paik Jong-won posted 416.6 billion won ($303.2 million) in revenue last year, up 45% on-year, and 25.6 billion won in operating profit, down 0.6% from a year earlier, according to its regulatory filing on April 11.

On Jan. 11, TheBorn Korea offered a bonus issue by providing two additional stocks per share for free to its existing stakeholders. This is understood as a part of its IPO preparation, adjusting the number of outstanding shares and setting the corporate value, banking sources said.

The F&B group operates Korean restaurant chains such as Bornga, Saemaeul Restaurant, Paik’s Bibim, Hanshin Pocha and café franchise Paik’s Coffee in Korea and 14 overseas markets including Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, the US and Canada. It also operates one local hotel,  TheBorn Jeju.

Paik, the founder and chief executive, owns a 76.69% stake in TheBorn Korea, followed by the Vice CEO Kang Seok-won who holds 21.09%.

The company selected Korea Investment & Securities Co. and NH Investment & Securities Co. as lead managers for the IPO in 2018, but it withdrew the listing plan amid tepid investor interest in the F&B industry and COVID-19.

Market watchers say the company’s IPO might not be easy as share prices of local peers, such as fried-chicken franchise Kyochon F&B Co., pizza chain operator Daesan F&B Inc. and restaurant chain Didim E&F, have been on a downward trend. Kyochon F&B shares closed at 7,900 won on Thursday, 35.8% below their listing price in November 2020.

Write to Jeong-Cheol Bae at bjc@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.