Two companies, Nearthlab and HatchTech, will make their debut on South Korea's Kosdaq market this week, while Skylabs opens its public share subscription. A series of other events are also scheduled, including changes in listed shares tied to corporate name changes and stock retirements.
Nearthlab listed on the Kosdaq market on the 24th, according to the financial investment industry. Nearthlab is a company that provides artificial intelligence (AI)-based autonomous flight drone solutions, and it is expanding into the defense sector on the strength of autonomous flight technology and data accumulated in inspecting wind turbines.
In the institutional demand forecast, 1,795 bids were submitted, drawing a competition rate of 743.49 to 1. The top of the offering price range was 41,200 won, putting the total offering at 37.49 billion won ($27 million). The retail subscription held on the 12th and 13th of this month drew 114,564 applications for 120,571,780 shares, a competition rate of about 530 to 1.
The following day, on the 25th, HatchTech will list on the Kosdaq market. HatchTech is a fabless company that designs high-precision three-dimensional magnetic sensor system-on-chips (SoC) that detect changes in magnetic fields to measure position and movement. It is expanding its mobile- and home-appliance-centered business into the automotive and robotics sectors.
A total of 321 institutions took part in the demand forecast, producing a competition rate of 101.91 to 1. The offering price is 23,000 won. The final retail subscription competition rate was 26 to 1, and the subscription deposit — half the subscription amount paid in advance — reached 70 billion won ($50 million).
Skylabs will hold its public share subscription for retail investors over two days, on the 26th and 27th of this month. Subscriptions can be made through Korea Investment & Securities, the listing's lead underwriter. Founded in 2015, Skylabs is a company whose flagship product is the CART BP pro, a ring-shaped ambulatory blood pressure monitor.
Skylabs conducted its institutional demand forecast from the 14th to the 21st of this month. The offering band was set at 13,000 to 16,000 won, with an expected offering size of 26 billion to 32 billion won. Funds raised through the offering will be used to expand the company's AI-based medical data platform business. The company is targeting a Kosdaq listing on the 4th of next month.
Other major share-issuance events are also scheduled, including changes in listed shares tied to stock retirements at KSS Line and Naver (on the 24th), changes in listed shares tied to stock retirements at Mirae Asset Securities and Krafton (on the 25th), and additional listings of common shares tied to the conversion of domestic convertible bonds (CB) at Aprogen Biologics and Aprogen (on the 26th).
