How TeraView becomes first UK firm to list on Kosdaq

TeraView Holdings CEO Donald Arnone speaks to reporters during a press meeting at the British Embassy in Seoul, Wednesday. Newsis

TeraView Holdings is set to become the first U.K. company to list on Korea's secondary Kosdaq market, a move that could pave the way for the entry of more foreign tech firms, industry officials said Friday.

The Cambridge-based company has priced its shares at 8,000 won ($5.44), following a book-building process held from Nov. 13-19. A total of 1,811 institutional investors participated, resulting in a highly competitive subscription rate of 646 to 1.

The initial public offering (IPO) has been valued at 40 billion won. The company set to debut on Dec. 9, after retail investor subscriptions from Friday to Monday.

TeraView, which pioneered the commercialization of terahertz ultra-precision inspection equipment, is positioning itself as a next-generation alternative to electron-beam technologies. Terahertz waves vibrate at a trillion cycles per second and are gaining traction in advanced semiconductor applications.

Company CEO Donald Arnone told reporters Wednesday that the firm chose Korea due to the concentration of its key clients in the region. About 60 percent of its revenue currently comes from semiconductor companies, many of which are based in Korea.

TeraView has longstanding ties with the country. After first supplying equipment to Samsung Electronics in 2011, the company secured backing from Samsung Venture Investment Corp. in a 2017 capital raise, resulting in a 4 percent stake. Samsung Securities also acquired a 2.7 percent stake in a pre-IPO fundraising round in November last year.

Following the IPO, the company plans to establish an Asia hub in Korea and expand operations into Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan.

The listing follows a Korea Exchange promotion campaign in the U.K. last November. A key appeal was the Kosdaq's special track for tech companies, which allows listings based on technological potential rather than strict financial metrics — a framework unavailable in the U.K.

The IPO will mark the first foreign company listing on the Kosdaq in over four years. While around 20 foreign firms are currently listed in Korea, appetite has waned since 2021, weighed down by the "Korea discount" and pandemic-era outreach disruptions.

Industry officials say if TeraView's listing is successful, Korea could emerge as a more viable listing destination for other foreign technology firms in the future.

"If the government’s capital market restructuring continues, interest from both foreign investors and companies is expected to rise," said one brokerage industry official.

Arnone also expressed confidence in Korea's investment landscape.

"There have been concerns in the past about the Korean market versus Hong Kong, New York, etc. We think that's changing," Arnone said. "We are pretty confident that there's a lot more value being generated for the shareholders in the Korean market now than there was three or four years ago, and we see that continuing moving forward."