Sky Labs, a maker of ring-shaped blood pressure monitors, set its initial public offering price at 10,000 won after book-building with institutional investors, becoming the first company to complete a listing this year at a price below its indicative range. Newly listed stocks have repeatedly fallen on their first trading day, rapidly cooling institutional appetite.
Sky Labs completed book-building from the 14th to the 21st of this month, according to investment banking sources on the 25th. The company and lead underwriter Korea Investment & Securities had proposed an indicative range of 13,000 to 16,000 won. The final price of 10,000 won, applied to 19,637,417 shares, implies a market value of 196.4 billion won.
Sky Labs is the first company listed on the KOSPI or KOSDAQ this year to price below the bottom of its range. Of the 246 institutions that took part in book-building, 170, or 69%, bid at or below the range. By volume, 57.17 million of the 95.112 million shares sought, or 60.11%, were bid below the range.
Long-term lock-up commitments were also among the weakest for any new listing this year. Investors pledging not to sell Sky Labs shares for at least 15 days after listing accounted for just 0.17% of participating volume. Eight companies have completed book-building since the start of the second half, and all but Hatech, at 15.08%, posted single-digit lock-up ratios.
The retreat in institutional demand reflects a run of stocks that have slumped from their first trading day. Hatech, which debuted on the KOSDAQ market that day, closed at 13,930 won, 39.43% below its offering price of 23,000 won. Kido Industrial, down 34.58%, and Nearthlab, down 30.46%, also fell well below their offering prices on debut. Trading volume is typically heaviest on the first day and prices often rise, but weaker sentiment appears to have shifted priority toward profit-taking.
Sky Labs will open its retail subscription period for two business days starting Aug. 26. Following the payment date, the shares are scheduled to list on the KOSDAQ market on Sept. 4.
