Online lender K Bank Co. has filed for an initial public offering in Seoul that may raise as much as 984 billion won ($960 million), in what would be the biggest South Korean listing in almost three years.
The company seeks to sell 82 million shares, half of which are new, according to a regulatory filing Monday. K Bank is looking to sell them at 9,500 won to 12,000 won apiece.
K Bank, which operates only through digital channels, would be valued at up to 5 trillion won ($4.9 billion) based on the 375.7 million shares outstanding disclosed in a filing last month. The company plans to list on Oct 30.
The IPO would be the biggest in South Korea since battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd.’s US$10.7 billion deal in January 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It would also be the largest debut of a financial firm in the country since KakaoBank Corp. raised US$2.2 billion in 2021.
IPOs in South Korea have raised US$1.23 billion so far this year, more than in all of 2023 but a far cry from the US$15.2 billion from 2021. Still, deals from the country have offered a bright spot in Asia as proceeds from Chinese firms have shrunk.
Other Korean companies seeking to list shares include artificial-intelligence chip startup Rebellions Inc., which is inviting global banks to help it list shares as early as 2025. LG CNS Co., the information-technology services arm of LG Group, is also gearing up for a Seoul IPO as early as next year, Bloomberg News reported last month.
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K Bank posted net income of 85.4 billion won for the first half of the year, more than three times the amount in the same period in 2023, according to a filing last month.
NH Investment & Securities Co., KB Securities Co. and Bank of America Corp. are arranging K Bank’s IPO.
