By Park Si-soo
TonyMoly, a mid-sized Korean cosmetics company, will receive subscription to its shares from July 1 to 2 for an initial public offering (IPO).
KDB Daewoo Securities is the lead manager of the IPO.
It priced the shares in a band from 26,400 won to 30,200 won, with 45.39 million shares offered. Of these, it will issue 40 million new shares.
Analysts said the IPO will give TonyMoly great momentum to facilitate its expansion into China and other countries.
Its IPO plan has drawn keen attention from investors because of rising demand for Korean cosmetics products in China and other Asian markets. TonyMoly has reported double-digit growth in sales in recent years.
If the firm’s IPO goes successfully, it will inspire many other mid-sized cosmetics firms here to follow suit.
Nature Republic, It’s Skin and several other companies have already taken steps to go public ― on domestic or overseas bourses.
Nature Republic is making last-minute preparations for an IPO in cooperation with Daishin securities.
The company doesn’t rule out the possibility of listing its shares on the Hong Kong stock market.
AmorePacific’s impressive performance last year triggered the IPO rush. The nation’s biggest cosmetics firm posted record sales last year, making its leader Suh Kyung-bae Korea’s second richest man in stock value, edging out Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and other billionaires.
Founded in 2006, TonyMoly reported 205.1 billion won in sales last year, up 20.6 percent from 2013. It runs nearly 600 outlets here and hundreds of others in 20 countries, including the U.S. and Hong Kong.
It aims to reach 400 billion won in sales this year on robust sales in China.