Daily Brief South Korea: WCP, Jyp Entertainment, Hyundai Greenfood and more

• WCP (WCP KS), a lithium-ion batteries separator company, has set its IPO price at KRW60,000 per share, a hefty 25-40% discount on the “desired” IPO price range of KRW80,000-100,000. 
• The target raise has declined from KRW720-900 billion (US$517-646 million) to KRW432 billion (US$310 million) due to the lower IPO price and offer shares.
• While the final IPO price is now reasonable, the process smacks desperation and calls into question the credibility of the syndicate’s forecasts. This is still an avoid.

In our next Webinar, we welcome Analyst Soo Young Kim , who will take us through the ESG risks present in South Korea and her analysis based on negative ESG incidents. 

The webinar will be hosted on Wednesday, 21 September 2022, 17:00 SGT/HKT.

Soo Young is the Head of ESG Intelligence at Who’s Good, Asia’s first AI-driven ESG Insight Provider. Using AI technologies and public data, Who’s Good provides objective and up-to-date corporate ESG insights on Asian companies.

• The value accretion that will occur by unlocking treasury shares will be more significant than Hyundai Dept. The treasury shares account for 10.64%, compared with 6.61% for Hyundai Dept.
• Neither Holdco nor Opco will likely remain in the KOSPI 200 after relisting. So we cannot expect PASSIVE inflow at the time of relisting.
• A tender will likely follow. However, neither is available for shorting. So, we should use Opco’s overheated price adjustment as an exit timing for our positions aimed at value accretion.