Doosan Robotics, the largest collaborative robot supplier in Korea, is attracting significant attention from major investors including sovereign wealth funds and long-funds for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO). The offering price has been set at the upper end of the suggested price band, reflecting strong interest during the institutional book building period.
Potential investors include Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), and Goldman Sachs. Although Doosan has not confirmed the names on the list, Mirae Asset Securities and Korea Investment and Securities, the lead underwriters for the company, announced that foreign sovereign wealth funds and large-cap long-term funds participated in the book building. This level of participation is rare for an IPO deal with an offering size less than 500 billion won ($375.8 million).
The five-day institutional book building period concluded on September 15, with the offering price set at 26,000 won, at the top of its price band. The process saw participation from a total of 1,920 institutional investors from both domestic and international markets who applied for over 2.4 billion shares combined. Among these participants, 51.6 percent agreed to a lockup after the IPO.
Doosan plans to issue 16.2 million shares through the IPO and expects to raise 421.2 billion won ($355 million), with an estimated market capitalization of 1.69 trillion won ($1.42 billion). The subscription period for retail investors will open on Thursday and will run for two days. The company anticipates beginning trading on the main Kospi bourse on October 5.
Proceeds from the IPO will be utilized to enhance production capacity as well as research and development capabilities, further solidifying Doosan Robotics’ position in the industry.
