The second-quarter IPO pipeline from South Korea is set to be the biggest-yet ever as it includes highly-anticipated gaming name Krafton and another Kakao name that usually sits well with investors.

Battery material manufacturer SK IET opens the second quarter with institutional book-building set for April 22-23 and public subscription from April 28.

SK IET has set the desired price band at between 78,000 won ($69.9) and 105,000 won, putting the IPO value from 5.56 trillion won to 7.49 trillion won. Given the record response to last month IPO by SK Bioscience, the next contestant from SK family is expected to do equally well in pricing and demand.

Krafton Inc., the developer of battle royale game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, will be filing for preliminary review for an IPO on the Kospi bourse this month. The company with estimated worth of 30 trillion won ($26.9 billion) is expected to embark on IPO process in June as review usually takes 45 working days.

Krafton IPO is led by Mirae Asset Daewoo, and joined by NH Investment & Securities, Credit Suisse Securities, Citigroup Global Markets Korea Securities, and JP Morgan as syndicate banks.

Krafton’s shares hover at 2.345 million won on the over-the-counter market as of Tuesday, compared with 1.8 billion won in mid-March, according to OTC platform Stockplus Unlisted.

Kakao Pay, the mobile payment service provider under leading messenger app KakaoTalk, will also submit IPO prospectus this month with the Kopsi offering planned for August. Samsung Securities is the lead book runner with co-underwriters Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Daishin Securities. Kakao Pay’s market value is estimated at around 9 trillion won.

By Kang Woo-seok and Lee Eun-joo

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