Seoul Guarantee Insurance Submits Securities Registration Statement... Lowers Valuation to Retry IPO

Seoul Guarantee Insurance, the largest comprehensive guarantee company in Korea, submitted a securities registration statement to the Financial Services Commission on the 24th and is entering the public offering process for listing on the Korea Exchange.

The number of shares offered is 6,982,160 shares, which is 10% of the total issued shares from the 93.85% stake held by the largest shareholder, the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation. The expected offering price per share ranges from 26,000 to 31,800 KRW. The total offering size is between 181.5 billion and 220 billion KRW.

Seoul Guarantee Insurance had planned an IPO in 2023 but halted it due to insufficient investor demand during the book-building process. This time, the company has lowered the price by up to 39% compared to the price proposed two years ago.

Seoul Guarantee Insurance aims to list on the Korea Exchange on March 14 and plans to conduct domestic and international roadshows with the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation starting early next month. The book-building for institutional investors will take place from March 20 to 26 to finalize the offering price, followed by a general subscription for public shares on March 5 and 6. The joint lead underwriters are Mirae Asset Securities and Samsung Securities.

At a board meeting held the previous day, Seoul Guarantee Insurance established a medium-term shareholder return policy. It confirmed a dividend payout of 200 billion KRW for the fiscal year 2024, guaranteeing a dividend yield of around 10% based on the expected offering price, and set a goal to ensure a total shareholder return amount (cash dividends plus treasury stock repurchase and cancellation) of 200 billion KRW annually for the next three years.

A representative from the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation stated, "Through this IPO, we will find the appropriate market price for Seoul Guarantee Insurance and do our best to facilitate smooth recovery of public funds based on this."