SK shieldus scraps IPO plan due to weak demand

SK shieldus, one of the leading security companies in South Korea and operating under SK square Co., was revealed to have withdrawn its initial public offering (IPO) plan. The security solutions firm made the decision to cancel after seeing dull corporate demand during a 2-day book-building session.

As per Pulse News, in its statement forwarded to the Financial Supervisory Service on Friday, SK shieldus said it felt it could not get fair pricing so it proceeded to scrap its plans to go public this month and will wait until market conditions improve.

Bids for SK shieldus IPO have also plunged below the bottom end; thus, the best option is to withdraw. With its move, the security company was able to keep its original desired price band between ₩31,000 ($24.33) and ₩38,000.

The lukewarm demand for the firm’s offering showed that the investors’ confidence has shrunk due to increased rates and high offering rates. Korea Economic Daily reported that SK shieldus’ book-building received unenthusiastic investor interest as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike stung market sentiment.

The security firm submitted its delisting notice to South Korea’s financial regulator late last week, so the IPO plan is officially off. It saw a 200-to-1 competition at the recent IPO’s book-building for institutional investors that was held on May 3 and 4, and this was exactly what made the company move away from its Kospi listing move. The firm also considered lowering its price band by 20% in an attempt to attract more investors but decided against it and dropped the IPO plan instead.

“The majority of institutional investors gave us positive feedback on our fundamentals, such as growth, profitability, and stability, but we saw investor confidence shrink rapidly over the past few months due to the growing uncertainty of global macroeconomic conditions,” an official at SK shieldus said in a statement.

He added, “Thus, we have decided to withdraw going public and review the plan again in the future when the corporate value is properly assessed. Also, we will strengthen our competitive edges of cybersecurity and converged security, which investors highly valued during the IPO process.”