South Korea's initial public offering market, dormant for months, is set for a busy week. Six companies including Creatz and T&E Korea will take subscription orders from retail investors, while eight companies in total — three of them among those six — are also holding book-building sessions with institutional investors. Elice Group and MS Bio will make their trading debuts on the KOSDAQ.
Creatz, a golf simulator maker, and T&E Korea, which specializes in high-speed turbomachinery, will accept retail subscriptions on the 20th and 21st, according to the financial investment industry on the 19th. Creatz develops golf hardware and software, including simulators and launch monitors, devices that measure club movement and ball flight data during a swing. Its indicative price range is 15,000 won to 18,000 won per share. T&E Korea manufactures high-efficiency industrial blowers based on high-speed motor and air bearing technology, a system that reduces friction between mechanical parts. The company set its offering price at 15,300 won, the top of its range, after institutional book-building.
IntelliVix, an artificial intelligence video analytics firm, will take retail orders on the 21st and 22nd, with an indicative range of 7,600 won to 9,000 won. Three companies — EST, Youngkwang and Lablup — will accept subscriptions simultaneously on the 22nd and 23rd. Lablup, which develops management solutions for computing devices such as AI chips, has set an indicative range of 19,000 won to 22,000 won.
Several book-building sessions are also scheduled. Lablup and Youngkwang will take institutional orders through the 19th and EST through the 20th, ahead of their retail subscriptions. MBD, a precision medicine company based on three-dimensional cell culture, will run book-building through the 22nd, while optics specialist Optonics will be assessed by institutional investors from the 21st to the 27th. NexAI, BaroPharm and Dongwon Parts are set for book-building from the 22nd to the 28th.
Elice Group and MS Bio will debut on the KOSDAQ. Elice Group, an AI education and infrastructure company, is scheduled to list on the 20th. It fixed its offering price at 90,500 won, the top of its indicative range, after book-building held from Sept. 23 to Oct. 1. In the retail subscription that followed, about 290,000 orders were placed for a subscription ratio of 408 to 1, with deposits totaling about 10.3 trillion won ($7.1 billion). At the final offering price, Elice Group's market capitalization stands at 1.0054 trillion won, making it the first company this year to list on the KOSDAQ with a valuation above 1 trillion won.
MS Bio, a regenerative medicine company, is scheduled to list on the 22nd. Its retail subscription, held on the 12th and 13th, drew 286,498 orders. In the earlier book-building, 2,269 institutions at home and abroad took part for a subscription ratio of 1,096 to 1. MS Bio develops products for the reconstruction and regeneration of damaged tissue using human tissue and biomaterials. The company plans to use the roughly 31.2 billion won in proceeds to build a new plant in Ochang, establish overseas bases and conduct clinical trials at home and abroad.