[IPO Spotlight] SKIET Gaining Attention as a Major IPO

An SKIET employee is examining the separator.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] As large-scale initial public offerings (IPOs) with corporate values exceeding several trillion won gain momentum, public attention is focusing on IPO investors.

According to the financial investment industry on the 11th, SK IE Technology (SKIET) submitted a securities registration statement at the end of last month and entered the public offering process, aiming to be listed on the KOSPI market in mid-May.

SKIET, a materials business subsidiary of SK Innovation, is a globally competitive company in the rapidly growing lithium-ion battery separator (LiBS) market.

The expected public offering price range is 78,000 won to 105,000 won, and based on this, the estimated post-listing corporate value reaches 5.6 trillion won to 7.5 trillion won.

The public offering price will be finalized through institutional investor demand forecasting on the 22nd and 23rd, followed by general subscription on the 28th and 29th.

SKIET is likely to be the last large-scale public offering stock that can be subscribed to multiple times through various securities firms. This is because from as early as late May, multiple subscriptions in general public offerings will be restricted.

◇What kind of company is SKIET... 'Sell-out' of separators amid electric vehicle market expansion

With the explosive growth of the electric vehicle industry, SKIET's valuation is also rising accordingly.

Market research firm IHS forecasts the electric vehicle market size this year to be approximately 3.94 million units. Last year's market size was 2.28 million units, expected to increase by more than 70%. By 2025, four years later, it is projected to grow rapidly to about 11.26 million units.

As a result, demand for the core material, lithium-ion separators, is also growing sharply. The industry estimates the separator market size last year at about 4.1 billion square meters, and expects it to expand more than fourfold to approximately 15.9 billion square meters by 2025.

SKIET, a leading company in the lithium-ion separator industry, is known to have already signed full sales contracts for separator products to be produced this year at its Changzhou plant in China, which recently began commercial operation, and the Silesian Voivodeship plant in Poland, scheduled to start commercial operation in the third quarter of this year.

With environmental regulations accelerating in Europe and the Chinese government also focusing on fostering the electric vehicle industry, separator demand is rapidly increasing. Recently, due to a series of electric vehicle battery fires, customers seeking safer separators are reportedly increasing.

SKIET has proactively made aggressive investments in anticipation of the explosive growth of the electric vehicle market.

In 2018, to respond to global demand, it decided to establish its first overseas base in Changzhou, China, and began constructing a separator plant with an annual production capacity of 340 million square meters in March 2019, which started commercial operation in November last year.

The same scale new plant in Poland is scheduled to begin commercial operation in the third quarter of this year. Combining the two plants, the production capacity reaches 680 million square meters, which surpasses the existing domestic capacity of 508 million square meters at once. Currently, additional plants are being built in China and Poland, and by the end of this year, the total production capacity is expected to reach 1.37 billion square meters, and by 2023, it is projected to reach 1.87 billion square meters.