SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., a bio unit under South Korea’s SK Group, has decided to push back its initial public offering to the third quarter when hopefully coronavirus threat dies down.

“The IPO could be in July, or in September,” said an official at the company. “We have no choice but to reschedule the plan as there’s no way we can meet international investors.”

Initially, SK Biopharmaceuticals had readied book-building sessions in April after it gained preliminary IPO nod from the country’s stock market authority in December. It planned overseas road shows within the second quarter but the plan was stalled due to the spread of COVID-19 in the global financial hubs including New York, London and Hong Kong.

The company will apply for an extension on its IPO process. Its preliminary permit expires at the end of June and can be extended once up to another six months by the authority if there are evident reasons.

The country’s sole stock market operator Korea Exchange plans to fully reflect the current market conditions when deciding whether to extend SK Biopharmaceuticals’ IPO schedule as the coronavirus pandemic has stopped most of investor relations road shows due to soured investor sentiment amid growing uncertainty.

“Everyone understands the unfavorable market situation and companies need to go ahead of IPOs under poor conditions,” said an official at the authority.

Shares of SK Holdings, SK Group’s holding entity that owns a full stake in SK Biopharmaceuticals, fell 0.88 percent to end at 168,000 won ($137.65) in Seoul on Wednesday.

By Han Ye-kyung, Park Jae-young and Lee Ha-yeon

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