LG Energy Solution IPO attracts $110 billion in bids

LG Chem’s energy storage and battery division’s US$10.7 billion (AU$14.8 billion) initial public offering received a staggering response from institutional investors, Reuters has reported.

January 13, 2022 Marija Maisch

In 2021, LG Energy Solution issued a recall for some of its RESU range.

Image: LG Energy

From pv magazine Global

Chemical-based battery company LG Energy Solution’s (LGES’) US$10.7 billion (AU$14.8 billion) initial public offering received bids worth around US$80 billion (AU$110 billion) from institutional investors, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The book for the offering, the largest ever held in South Korea, will close tomorrow with deal pricing set for Friday.

The reported IPO could take the company’s value to as much as KRW70.2 trillion (US$58.8 billion), which would make it South Korea’s third-biggest listed company, after Samsung Electronics and semiconductor business SK Hynix. According to a previous report from Bloomberg, the price range was set at KRW257,000-300,000 per share.

Demand for the stock was reportedly around 13 times bigger than the US$6 billion (AU$8.3 billion) on offer to institutions, according to the company’s regulatory filings for the IPO.

LGES had announced at a press conference this week it would use the proceeds from its IPO – on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index – to expand its manufacturing capacity in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company also forecast its market share would overtake that of rival Chinese battery maker CATL thanks to a wider range of customers, and said it was aiming for a double-digit operating margin.

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