[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Electrode material company Top Material is showing strong performance on its first day listed on the KOSDAQ market.
At 9:16 a.m. on the 18th, Top Material was trading at 39,700 KRW, up 18.51% from the opening price.
After listing at the public offering price of 30,000 KRW, the opening price was set at 33,500 KRW.
Top Material produces electrode materials along with system engineering business in the secondary battery sector. System engineering is a technology-intensive business that supplies pilot or entire production facilities to secondary battery manufacturers. Top Material provides not only the supply of all process equipment but also installation and commissioning as a package.
Top Material also manufactures electrodes and cathode materials, which are core materials for secondary batteries. It began mass production of high-performance electrodes, which account for 76% of the raw material composition of secondary batteries, starting in the second half of this year. The company is developing next-generation cathode materials, high-manganese cobalt-free cathode materials (LMNO, LMRO). The next-generation cathode materials LMNO and LMRO adopt a nano-milling single-crystal process that does not rely on precursors, making them environmentally friendly and reducing manufacturing costs. They are attracting attention as next-generation cathode materials that complement the drawbacks of existing nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cathode materials and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials.
They generate no industrial waste, have easy raw material procurement, and can save process costs. With high safety and the ability to secure high energy density, they are expected to serve as next-generation cathode materials that complement the shortcomings of nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials.
CEO Hwanjin Noh is a first-generation developer at Samsung SDI and developed Korea’s first lithium-ion battery for mobile phones. Afterwards, he worked as a professor at Hanyang University and founded Enerland as a campus startup. Enerland developed high-power lithium-ion batteries for electric model airplanes and exported them to the U.S. and Europe. CEO Noh served as Vice President of Technology at the U.S. secondary battery manufacturer A123 Systems for five years, where he developed and commercialized the world’s first lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery for electric vehicles and energy storage systems (ESS). He oversaw the construction of the first gigafactory in the U.S. for LFP battery production. Returning to Korea, he founded Top Material in 2012. In March last year, through a paid-in capital increase, Cowintech acquired new shares, changing the largest shareholder from CEO Noh to Cowintech.
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