SK Biopharma IPO draws $4.93 bn in retail orders on first day

The retail portion of SK Biopharmaceuticals Co.’s initial public offering drew orders worth 5.94 trillion won ($4.93 billion) on its first day in what is set to be South Korea’s biggest IPO in three years when trading officially starts next week.

Retail investors ordered more than 60 times their allotted shares on Tuesday, placing bids for 242.5 million shares against the 3,915,662 shares offered. The two-day retail tranche will close at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The South Korean drugmaker last Friday priced its offering at 49,000 won per share, the top of its indicative range, after attracting 836 times more orders from institutional investors than expected. The company is set to raise 989 billion won at an estimated market valuation of 3.8 trillion won. The listing is scheduled for July 2.

About 20 percent of the total 19,578,310 shares have been allocated to retail investors.

The lead underwriter NH Investment & Securities Co. showed the highest subscription rate at 65.6 times. Korea Investment & Securities Co. came second at 64.2 times, followed by Hana Financial Investment Co. at 58.63 times and SK Securities Co. at 47 times.

Eyes are now on whether SK Biopharmaceuticals would top the retail sale record set by Cheil Industries, the fashion retail unit of Samsung Group. Cheil Industries’ public subscription in December 2014 was oversubscribed by 194 times, with orders totaling 30 trillion won.

SK Biopharmaceuticals is set to be the biggest IPO in Korea since Celltrion Healthcare’s Kosdaq listing in July 2017.

SK Biopharmaceuticals last November became the first Korean drugmaker to independently gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its anti-epileptic drug Xcopri.

SK Holdings, the holding entity of SK Group, would own 75 percent of the company after the listing. Its shares fell 7.43 percent to close Wednesday at 286,500 won.

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