Bitcoin Rally... K Bank's Third Attempt at IPO

Increase in Deposits as Upbit Usage Rises

Expected to Reduce IPO Size and Lower Price

Internet-only bank K Bank is once again pushing forward with its initial public offering (IPO) process. As Bitcoin prices surpass $105,000 (approximately 150 million KRW), the usage of K Bank's main service, partnered with Upbit, has increased, leading to a rise in deposits. The rising stock price of peer company Kakao Bank is also seen as a factor in the renewed push for listing.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 18th, K Bank plans to submit a securities report in January next year and make another attempt at listing. K Bank received preliminary approval for listing from the Korea Exchange's securities market last September. If they do not complete the listing by February next year, they will need to undergo another review. To meet the schedule, they must submit the securities report next month and start demand forecasting for institutional investors to complete the stock market entry by February next year.

K Bank is analyzed to have judged that it is better to proceed with the listing when the Bitcoin market is booming. Upbit users account for 20% of K Bank's total deposits. Considering the slump in the IPO market, it is known that they plan to reduce the proportion of strategic investor (FI) old stock sales and the size of the public offering, and also lower the public offering price. MNC Solution, which was listed on the securities market on the 16th, lowered its public offering price by 19% from the lower end of the desired public offering price and reduced the public offering size by about 20%.

This listing attempt is the third, following those in 2022 and October this year. In October, K Bank set the desired public offering price range at 95,001 to 1,200,000 KRW. The public offering size was at least 779 billion KRW to a maximum of 984 billion KRW, with a market capitalization of 3.9586 trillion to 5.3 trillion KRW. However, amid controversy over overvaluation, they postponed the listing as they could not fully raise the public offering amount.

The fact that large-scale 'big fish' listings are concentrated in December next year is expected to act negatively. This is because the demand from institutional and general investors may be dispersed. LG CNS, which passed the preliminary review of the exchange on the 2nd, is aiming for a listing in February next year. SGI Seoul Guarantee and DN Solutions are also preparing to enter the securities market with a target of February to March next year.

Reporter Bae Jeong-cheol bjc@hankyung.com