Increased Expectations for Successful Rights Offering
Previously Sluggish Stock Rebounds with Limit-Up on the 27th
Meta Platforms' announcement of the augmented reality (AR) smart glasses prototype 'Orion' has heightened expectations for growth in the AR industry within the domestic stock market. This is expected to positively influence AR solution developer Maxst's efforts to raise funds for debt repayment through a rights offering.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 30th, Maxst will issue 10.7 million new shares to raise 16.7 billion KRW. The initial share issuance price is 1,561 KRW, with the final issuance price to be confirmed on the 1st of next month.
Of the funds raised, Maxst plans to use 15 billion KRW to repay the '1st tranche convertible bonds.' The company issued convertible bonds privately in November 2022. At issuance, the conversion price was 11,044 KRW, but it was adjusted to 7,731 KRW to reflect the stock price decline. Since the current stock price of 2,740 KRW is lower than the conversion price, convertible bond investors are likely to demand early repayment. Maxst has planned to raise funds for convertible bond repayment through the rights offering.
Because most of the funds raised through the rights offering will be used for debt repayment, the subscription enthusiasm was not high. The initial issuance price being lower than the 2,340 KRW expected at the board resolution also indicates limited expectations for the rights offering. Since the board resolved the rights offering on August 23, the stock price has fallen about 30% over the past month.
The previously sluggish stock price surged to the upper price limit on the 27th. This was thanks to Meta holding its annual developer conference 'Connect 2024' at its Menlo Park headquarters in California on the 25th (local time), where it unveiled the next-generation AR smart glasses prototype 'Orion.' Weighing only about 100g, Orion allows the use of AR content and also integrates Meta's artificial intelligence (AI). Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO, stated, "Orion will be the computing device after the smartphone."
With the emergence of a catalyst for AR industry growth, expectations have risen that funds will flow into AR-related industries. Maxst provides AR development platforms offering AR application development tools and extended reality (XR) metaverse development platforms based on the real world. It possesses an all-in-one solution that can be embedded in clients' smart glasses hardware.
A representative from Kiwoom Securities, the underwriter of the rights offering, said, "Maxst will maintain a solid market position based on its technological leadership," and explained, "New services are scheduled to be launched this year." They added, "While existing XR services were mostly applied to large or mid-sized companies, the newly launched 'Widers' can be applied to small and micro enterprises as well."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
