Big Hit Entertainment, the South Korean label behind the K-pop superstar BTS, has rounded up the underwriting team for its much-anticipated initial public offering.

The entertainment agency has tapped NH Investment & Securities, Korea Investment & Securities, JPMorgan Chase to be joint book-runners for its IPO and also included Mirae Asset Daewoo in the syndicate, according to investment banking sources on Tuesday.

Analysts say Big Hit is poised to pull off one of the biggest IPOs of the year, with valuation estimated from 2 trillion won ($1.65 billion) to 4 trillion won.

Earlier this month, Big Hit reported an operating profit of 97.5 billion won on sales of 587.9 billion won for last year. Although Korea’s top three labels – YG Entertainment, SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment – have yet to report last year’s results, Big Hit’s earnings are expected to be bigger than the three of them combined.

BTS’s fourth album “Map of the Soul: 7,” which dropped last Friday, is on track to land No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the U.K. Official Charts in next week’s tally.

The septet has already topped the Billboard 200 with their previous three albums.

By Pulse

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