business news

S. Korea: Two SK Square arms, SK Shieldus & One Store, eyeing May IPO

Date: April 05, 2022 Omkar Patwardhan Omkar Patwardhan
S. Korea: Two SK Square arms, SK Shieldus & One Store, eyeing May IPO 
SK Square, the South Korean portfolio management firm, is reportedly planning to list two of its primary affiliates, a security business and a mobile app marketplace on the Korea Exchange in May, company filings showed on Monday.



During the first two tries after SK Square was spun off from Korea's biggest telecom provider, SK Telecom, the subsidiaries' initial public offerings would add up to ₩1.33 trillion (US$1.09 billion).



SK Shieldus, SK Square's security services subsidiary, previously recognized as ADT Caps, plans to raise up to ₩1.05 trillion ($865.33 million) by selling 27.1 million shares in an initial public offering (IPO) that will run through May 10. The IPO will be underwritten by Morgan Stanley, NH Investment & Securities, and Credit Suisse.



In the meantime, One Store, a Korean app marketplace for cellphones running the Android operating system, plans to sell 6.66 million shares for over ₩277.7 billion ($228.8 million). The deal's principal underwriters will be KB Securities and NH Investment & Securities.



According to each prospectus, SK Square did not initially declare a share sale strategy for either of the units in the IPO process.



Financial investors, on the other hand, will welcome the possibility of a partial exit.



Macquarie Korea Asset Management, SK Shieldus' minority shareholder, might make a profit of over ₩490.7 billion ($404.3 million), based on the book-building success for institutional investors. SK Shieldus is presently owned by a Macquarie affiliate with a 36.87% ownership.



In the case of One Store, a consortium of minority owners, led by Kiwoom Investment and SKS Private Equity are looking to float their shares for over ₩80.69 billion ($66.5 million).



The development comes just days after SK Square announced plans to take its portfolio companies public at a shareholders meeting on March 28 in order to boost the company's value.



Memory chip producer SK hynix, e-commerce platform 11st, advertising business Incross, mobility service company T Map Mobility, along with SK Shieldus and One Store, are among the portfolio companies of SK Square, which was spun off from SK Telecom in November.



Source credit: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220404000700

About the author

View All Posts

Omkar Patwardhan

Omkar Patwardhan started his professional career in the hospitality industry. Having nurtured a deep-sated passion for words however, he found his way into content writing and now pens down articles for numerous websites, including News Origins, spanning the sectors of business, finance, and technology.