SK Biopharmaceuticals going public before July

SK Biopharmaceuticals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SK Holdings, on Tuesday filed for a planned public listing set for June that could raise nearly 1 trillion won ($816 million).

The unit will offer 19.6 million shares and will price the stock in a range of 36,000 won to 49,000 won per share, the company said in a statement. The proceeds could range between 704.8 billion won and 959.3 billion won, which SK Biopharmaceuticals says it wants to use for research and development of novel drugs.

Market analysts estimated the corporation’s value will range from 4 trillion won to 6 trillion won after it received a major boost from an approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sell its treatment for partial-onset seizures in the U.S. market.

Those expectations appeared to lift shares of SK Holdings, the holding company of SK Group, on Monday, sending shares up 10.99 percent to 202,000 won.

The stock, however, retreated Tuesday as SK Holdings edged down 0.25 percent percent to 201,500 won.

“SK Holdings has secured upward momentum thanks to the imminent IPO of SK Biopharmaceuticals,” said Jeong Dae-ro, an analyst at Mirae Asset Daewoo. “The registration for the listing is expected to be filed this month. And the market estimates the corporate valuation between 4 and 5 trillion won."

Other analysts anticipate that the company could be valued at around 6 trillion won.

The sizable market valuation is setting the stage for one of the biggest IPOs on the Kospi since the debut of Samsung BioLogics, a biopharmaceutical affiliate of Samsung.

The company announced last week that it started marketing Xcopri, cenobamate tablets, in the United States, after it had received FDA approval in November.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]