South Korea's Hyundai Oilbank Co. on Wednesday won preliminary approval for an initial public offering on the Korea Exchange, which may provide its No. 2 shareholder Saudi Aramco with an opportunity to reduce its 17% stake.
The third-largest refiner in South Korea is expected to release its price guidance next month and make a debut on the main Kospi bourse between September and October.
Analysts now value Hyundai Oilbank at around 10 trillion won, after the company made a turnaround on the back of rising refining margins.
In 2021, Oilbank swung to an operating profit of 1.1 trillion won, versus the shortfalls of 593 billion won the year previous. Its first-quarter operating profit of 704 billion won is more than half of that for the full year of 2021.
By comparison, its smaller rival S-Oil Corp. is valued at 11.7 trillion won as of Thursday. Its 2021 operating profit was 2.3 trillion won, double Oilbank’s.
In view of the market cap of S-Oil, a majority-owned by Aramco, analysts say Oilbank’s corporate value is unlikely to exceed 10 trillion won.
Oilbank is trying to restructure its refining-heavy business portfolio. It plans to use fresh capital from an IPO for eco-friendly energy businesses such as white biotechnology, which uses biotechnology in industrial processes; eco-friendly chemical materials; and blue hydrogen, or hydrogen produced from natural gas.
NH Investment & Securities Co., KB Securities Co. and Credit Suisse are joint bookrunners for Oilbank’s IPO.
Write to Ye-Jin Jun at ace@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article
Hyundai Oilbank Co., part of South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co., on Monday submitted an application for an initial public offering, which the company expects to raise up to 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion).This is the refiner's third attempt at an IPO, after it swung to an operat
Hyundai Oilbank's refinery complex in Daesan, South Chungcheong Province, South Korea Hyundai Oilbank Co., a South Korean refiner, is selling a majority stake in its wholly owned Hyundai Oil Terminal Co. to a Seoul-based private equity firm for about 180 billion won ($160 million).The stake sal
South Korean refiner Hyundai Oilbank Co. is seeking to list its shares on the local bourse next year, according to its parent Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co.The plan to go public is the refiner’s third attempt at an initial public offering, following aborted bids in 2018 and 2019.H
Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest energy company, has signed an agreement to buy a stake of up to 19.9% in Hyundai Oilbank Co. Ltd. for 1.8 trillion won ($1.6 billion), in a pre-IPO investment in the third-largest South Korean oil refiner. Under the agreement, Aramco will become the second-largest