[IPO Spotlight] Studio Mir Maximizes Profits by Expanding IP Portfolio

Mirae Asset Securities Leads IPO for KOSDAQ Listing
IP Development and Acquisition Funded by Public Offering... Aiming to Become a Global Animation Studio

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Animation production company Studio Mir is set to secure intellectual property (IP) rights using funds raised through its initial public offering (IPO). The company plans to expand its business by maximizing profits through jointly developing IP with game, webtoon, and web novel production companies or by acquiring existing IP.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 24th, Studio Mir will offer a total of 1 million shares for its KOSDAQ market listing, consisting of 800,000 newly issued shares and 200,000 existing shares. The proposed price range for the offering is 15,300 to 19,500 KRW per share. Mirae Asset Securities is managing the listing. The company aims to raise 11.8 billion KRW, primarily to be used for securing IP.

Founded in 2010, Studio Mir is an animation production company. Animation is created through processes including story planning, original artwork production, editing, and recording. Studio Mir handles all production stages and has delivered highly polished animations. In 2019, it was recognized for its production capabilities by signing a long-term contract with Netflix, the first in the domestic industry. The company produced Netflix animations such as "Dota: Dragon's Blood," "Voltron: Legendary Defender," and "The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf." It has also collaborated with global content companies like Disney, DreamWorks, and Warner Bros. Studio Mir was involved in American TV animations such as "The Legend of Korra" and "Boondocks."

By the third quarter of this year, Studio Mir achieved sales of 19.6 billion KRW, surpassing last year's sales of 14.4 billion KRW. Operating profit turned positive at 2.8 billion KRW. As competition among online video service (OTT) providers intensifies and demand for animation increases, Studio Mir's sales are also growing.

Studio Mir plans to move beyond merely producing animations under contract with OTT providers and aims to create animations using its own IP. Amid rising content demand, the company is pursuing joint development of IP with industries such as game companies, webtoon creators, and web novel publishers, where synergy effects can occur. By utilizing IP from various content companies like game and webtoon firms to produce animations, Studio Mir can receive a share of the IP revenue. The company is also seeking writers to co-develop original IP through its local U.S. subsidiary. CEO Jaemyung Yoo of Studio Mir stated, "Based on our comprehensive production capabilities, we will expand into the IP business and become a global animation production company grounded in IP."

Mirae Asset Securities, the lead underwriter, selected drama production companies Pan Entertainment, AStory, and Studio Dragon as comparable companies to estimate Studio Mir’s fair corporate value. Using the average price-to-earnings ratio (PER) of 27.6 times from these three companies, the corporate value was calculated at 132 billion KRW. The per-share valuation was 24,603 KRW, and a discount rate of 20.8% to 38.0% was applied to propose the offering price range. Demand forecasting for institutional investors will be conducted over two days from the 16th to the 17th of next month, after which the offering price will be finalized.