LS Materials stock quadruples on Kosdaq debut day

[Courtesy of Korea Exchange]

Shares of LS Materials Co., South Korea’s leading ultra-capacitor maker, reached the upper limit on the first day of Kosdaq trading, quadrupling from its initial public offering price of 6,000 won ($4.6).

Shares of LS Materials closed at 24,000 won on Tuesday, up 300 percent from the offering price. The stock hit the upper price limit before noon after soaring more than 250 percent from the opening bell.

LS Materials follows KNS Co., which also saw its stock price quadruple last week upon debut.

Before KNS and LS Materials, no stocks had hit the price limit on their listing day for more than five months since the Korea Exchange increased the price limit for listed companies to 60 to 400 percent of the offering price in June.

Previously, the price cap was 63 to 260 percent of the offering price, and four times the initial price was not an option.

Under the new system, however, the price cap for the listing day was increased to 160 to 300 percent of the IPO price. The measure came to eliminate the step of setting the opening price and expand the price limit to find the appropriate price.

Earlier, LS Materials successfully garnered investor attention during its bookbuilding session recording a 396.8 to 1 competition ratio among 2,205 domestic and foreign institutional investors between November 22 and 28.

Public subscription, held between December 1 and 4 was also successful with a competition ratio of 1164.5 to 1. Margins totaled about 12.77 trillion won, the fourth of its kind to exceed 10 trillion won in the IPO market, following Doosan Robotics Inc., Phil Energy Co., and Shinsung ST Co.

LS Materials is a subsidiary of LS Cable & System Ltd. established in 2021. It mainly produces ultra-capacitors, which are the next-generation secondary batteries, and aluminum materials and components.

Last year, the company posted sales of 161.9 billion won, up 280 percent from the previous year, and an operating profit of 14.4 billion won, up 470 percent.