SK Lubricants plans to raise at least US$1 billion in IPO

SK Lubricants, a subsidiary of South Korea’s SK Innovation Co., plans to raise at least US$1 billion through a planned initial public offering in the first half of next year.
SK Lubricants is one of the world’s leading producers of Group III base oil, under the yubase brand; the company also manufactures and markets finished lubricants, under the ZIC brand.
The IPO would be one of the largest in South Korea next year, should it go through as planned. Among major IPO deals that have failed to materialize this year includes that of state-owned policy bank KDB Financial Group and oil refiner Hyundai Oilbank. The last big IPO in South Korea was that of aircraft manufacturer Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd., which raised KRW567.5 billion (US$519 million) last year.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that the valuation of the SK Lubricants IPO is a rough estimate and based on the assumption that approximately 25% of the company’s shares would be sold in the offering.
SK Lubricants has chosen Samsung Securities and Korea Investment & Securities as lead managers for the IPO; Credit Suisse and Citigroup were chosen as joint bookrunners, along with local banks KDB Daewoo Securities and Mirae Asset Securities.