This article appeared on the capital markets compass "Signal" at 4:57 p.m. on July 2, 2026.
With the initial public offering (IPO) market reshaped around small and mid-sized deals in the first half of this year, NH Investment & Securities (005940.KS) seized an early advantage. After completing the listing of K Bank, considered the biggest offering at the start of the year, the firm carried out four more IPOs in the second quarter, sustaining its reputation as a traditional powerhouse. Amid a slowdown for major brokerages under regulations banning duplicate listings, Samsung Securities has emerged as a dark horse and is now competing closely with NH Investment.
According to the Signal league table compiled by Seoul Economic Daily, the eight companies (excluding SPACs) that entered or will complete their listing on the domestic market in the second quarter of this year raised approximately 360.7 billion won in the IPO market. That marks a 53% decline from the first quarter (approximately 772.1 billion won) and a slight decrease compared with the same period last year (366.6 billion won). The drop was attributed to the disappearance of "big deals" capable of absorbing large sums from the market.
The brokerage that most actively supported corporate IPOs in the second quarter was KB Securities. It recorded 125.5 billion won based on the value of subscribed offering shares, accounting for about one-third of total transaction volume. KB Securities served as lead manager for the second quarter's largest listing, Chaevi, and single-handedly led the second-largest IPO, StradVision.
On a cumulative first-half basis, however, the brokerage that managed the largest transaction volume was NH Investment & Securities. Its subscribed offering value totaled approximately 349.5 billion won, more than KB Securities' 133.2 billion won. This reflected NH Investment's role as lead manager of K Bank, which entered the KOSPI in March this year. In the second quarter, NH Investment also handled the KOSDAQ debuts of Inventera, Cosmo Robotics, Poled, and PeacePiece Studio, adding 63 billion won in managed volume.
Samsung Securities' performance was also noteworthy. Samsung Securities, which served as a co-lead manager of K Bank alongside NH Investment, underwrote a total of 290.6 billion won in the second quarter by supporting the listings of Chaevi and Justek. With a gap of only around 50 billion won from NH Investment, a single deal could reverse the rankings. This was interpreted as the result of an aggressive push while Mirae Asset Securities (120 billion won) and Korea Investment & Securities (116.1 billion won) slowed under the government's regulations banning duplicate listings.
The ranking landscape is expected to shift depending on whether the contenders knocking on the KOSPI's door in the second half complete their listings. In fact, Sono International, whose valuation is cited at more than 3 trillion won, filed for a KOSPI preliminary review on the 26th of this month to pursue an IPO within the year. Musinsa and Goodai Global are expected to file after August, while Upstage, Megazone Cloud, Rebellions, SB Sunbo, S-Tec System, and SFC are also seen as strong follow-on candidates.
