Korea¡¯s Hyundai Card arranges underwriter syndicate to ready IPO

2019.11.28 11:36:52 | 2019.11.28 13:18:17

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Hyundai Card Co., the credit card unit of South Korea¡¯s Hyundai Motor Group, has put together the underwriting team for its planned initial public offering.

Citigroup Global Markets Korea Securities and NH Investment & Securities Co. will co-manage the listing, with Korea Investment & Securities Co. also on the syndicate, according to investment banking sources on Wednesday.

The Korean credit card issuer kicked off its IPO last month, sending out proposals to 10 investment banks to join its listing process. Affinity Equity Partners, which holds the largest stake in the company among its financial investors, is also said to be deeply involved in the talks.

The valuation of Hyundai Card is estimated at around 2 trillion won to 2.5 trillion won ($1.7 billion-2.1 billion), a mega-sized IPO that is expected to draw attention from not only local but foreign investors.

Hyundai Card has not yet set a date for the preliminary filing with the Korea Exchange. But its chief executive, Chung Tae-young, has expressed wishes to push back the listing to after 2021 to bolster the company¡¯s market value.

To get a fair value against the domestic slump, the credit card issuer must be able to come up with a sustainable growth plan, market watchers said.

Hyundai Card would be the second credit card stock after Samsung Card, which went public 12 years ago.

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Hyundai Motor Co. holds the dominant 36.96 percent share in the company, with Hyundai Commercial Co. and Kia Motors Corp. each owning 24.54 percent and 11.48 percent.

Hyundai Card has been readying to go public to enable its financial investors to cash out. In 2017, Hyundai Commercial and an Affinity Equity Partners-led consortium collectively bought a 43 percent stake in Hyundai Card from GE Capital. Hong Kong-based Affinity Equity Partners currently owns 9.99 percent of the company, with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC holding 9 percent and AlpInvest 5 percent.

By Kang Woo-seok and Kim Hyo-jin

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