SK IE Technology Co. (SK IET), the electronics materials making subsidiary of South Korean petrochemical major SK Innovation Co. readying to go public next year, is drawing pre-IPO capital worth 300 billion won ($258 million) from private equity funds.

The pre-IPO plan is put to a vote in the board meeting of SK Innovation on Wednesday. Once approved, candidates like PEF Premier Partners and other investors will be able to secure about a 10 percent stake in SK IET.

Spun off from SK Innovation in April last year, SK IET specializes in making lithium-ion battery separators for electric vehicles. It posted an operating profit of 80.6 billion won on sales of 263 billion won last year, and its net profit totaled 63.7 billion won.

According to market research firm TSR, SK IET is expected to claim the largest share of 40.7 percent this year in the global lithium-ion battery separator market excluding China, far outpacing the second runner-up Asahi Kasei with an estimated share of 20.7 percent.

The pre-IPO investment comes before SK IET’s much hyped IPO next year. It recently named Mirae Asset Daewoo and JP Morgan as book runners with an aim to go public on the main Kospi reportedly by the first half of next year. When listed, its enterprise value is estimated to reach 5-6 trillion won based on its recent business performance.

SK IET aims to ramp up its output to more than twice the current level. It is building a new production line with a capacity of 340 million square meters in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province of China, and the plant is expected to be operational within the year. Another plant also is under construction in Poland.

When all construction finishes by the second half of next year, SK IET is projected to have an output of 1.21 billion square meters, more than doubling from current 530 million square meters.

SK Innovation shares fell 1.99 percent to close Wednesday at 148,000 won in Seoul.

By Kang Doo-soon, Kang Woo-seok and Lee Ha-yeon

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