DRB Industrial shares soar 19% on supply deal with Caterpillar

[Courtesy of DRB Industrial Co.]

South Korea’s DRB Industrial Co. saw its shares surge nearly 20 percent on Tuesday morning following reports that it clinched a 277.6 billion won ($203.8 million) supply deal with Caterpillar Inc. to supply rubber tracks.

Shares of DRB Industrial were trading at 9,390 won as of 11:13 a.m. on Tuesday, up 19.01 percent from the previous session.

Shares of its holding company DRB Holding Co. also gained 12.5 percent to 6,210 won.

The contract with Caterpillar, a U.S. construction and civil engineering machinery manufacturer, is worth about 77.6 percent of DRB Industrial’s entire sales of 357.7 billion won in 2023. It was secured jointly with DRB America Inc. The contract period extends until May 31, 2027.

Rubber tracks are components that serve as tire tracks for construction equipment such as excavators.

DRB Industrial is the world’s second-largest rubber track manufacturer.

Stocks of Hybe Co. and SM Entertainment Co., in the meantime, lost ground on Tuesday after Hybe disposed of its shares in SM Entertainment via an after-hours block deal.

Hybe shares were trading at 198,300 won as of 11:16 a.m., down 2.56 percent from the previous session. Shares of SM Entertainment fell 5.43 percent to 90,600 won.

Hybe announced it would sell 755,522 shares of SM Entertainment at 90,531 won per share before the market opened, which allowed Hybe to cash in part of its stake in SM Entertainment for 68.4 billion won.

At the time of the demand survey the day before, Hybe reportedly planned to sell up to 940,000 shares with a base sale volume of 750,000 shares and a discount rate of 4 to 5.5 percent.

In the actual block deal, the company disposed of only the basic sale quantity, with the maximum discount rate applied.

In a separate development, Yuil Robotics Co shares hit the upper price limit in early trading on Tuesday, following the news that the company decided to raise capital through a paid-in capital increase targeting a subsidiary of SK on Co.

Shares were trading at 37,850 won as of 11:18 a.m., up 29.85 percent from the previous session.

Yuil Robotics announced earlier in the day that it decided on a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase targeting SK battery America Inc. to raise 31.7 billion won for operating funds.

A total of 1,526,374 new common shares will be issued at an issue price of 24,014 won per share, the company said.