South Korea’s major oil refiner Hyundai Oilbank Co. has hinted that it may defer its initial public offering (IPO) plan to next year due to the delayed audit and bearish mood in the nation’s stock market.

According to sources from the investment banking industry on Thursday, Hyundai Oilbank said to the financial authority that it would not hurry with its IPO plan, a change from its previous position that it had repeatedly expressed its will to list itself in the main Kospi market within this year once the audit is completed.

The change in Hyundai Oilbank’s position on the IPO plan comes after the lackluster stock market and weakening investor sentiment have already prompted many firms to withdraw or postpone their plan to go public this year. SK Lubricants, the wholly-owned entity of the nation’s another major oil refiner SK Innovation Co., canceled its IPO procedure in April due to the failure to meet price expectations after book-building, and Kakao Games and HDC I-Service also put off the plan. The nation’s multiplex cinema chain CJ CGV on Tuesday also called off its plan to list its Vietnamese entity on Kospi after receiving lukewarm response during the book-building session.

Market experts also agree that Hyundai Oilbank has no reason to hurriedly pursue the listing plan as it continues to make record-breaking earnings. Its operating profit amounted to 1.14 trillion won ($1.01 billion) last year, exceeding the 1 trillion won mark for the first time, and sales stood at above 16 trillion won.

It is likely to achieve much better earnings this year as its operating profit during the January to September period this year reached 836.3 billion won on sales of 15.4 trillion won, meaning that it could fetch higher price next year.

By Jin Young-tae and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]