On the 31st, company notice revealed background of listing
Precursor production to expand to 210,000 tons annually by 2027
"We will increase the self-sufficiency of precursors by expanding production facilities with the funds raised through the IPO. We plan to build an additional factory in the Pohang Yeongilman Industrial Complex to expand production capacity to 210,000 tons by 2027."
Kim Byung-hoon, CEO of Ecopro Materials, emphasized the independence of the precursor market, which currently depends 90% on imports from China, in an internal announcement on the 31st. Ecopro Materials, the only domestic precursor company, is currently conducting demand forecasting targeting institutional investors ahead of its IPO next month. The expected market capitalization based on the highest public offering price is 3.12 trillion KRW. The funds raised through the public offering will be used for facility investments such as additional factories and raw material purchases.
CEO Kim said, "I attended overseas IR (Investor Relations) last week," adding, "Although the market may temporarily slow down, no customers expressed doubts about the long-term growth potential of secondary batteries." Ecopro Materials produces NCM811 and NCM 9½½ precursors used in high-nickel batteries.
CEO Kim revealed that he held briefings for overseas investors focusing on technological differentiation. The technology that stands out as Ecopro Materials' competitive edge is the RMP process. RMP is a process that refines low-purity intermediate materials into high-purity metal sulfate. Through the RMP process, high-purity precursor materials can be produced not only from intermediate raw materials mined from mines but also from primary refined materials recycled from used batteries. This process offers superior cost competitiveness compared to other companies' refining processes. CEO Kim stated, "In the past, we had difficulties securing price competitiveness because we purchased high-purity raw materials like nickel at high prices for processing," adding, "With the RMP process, we can purchase low-purity nickel mixtures at about 30% of the cost."
He also expressed a commitment to diversifying customers. CEO Kim said, "We are well aware of the criticism that the internal transaction ratio is high because all the volume we produce is supplied to Ecopro BM," adding, "Through efforts to diversify customers, we plan to sell 40-50% of production volume externally in 3 to 4 years." He emphasized, "Potential investors showed interest in our efforts to secure external customers," and added, "We will continue to pursue customer diversification through acquiring new clients."
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