South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries has priced the shares for its planned initial public offering planned for next month.
The shipbuilder is offering 18m new shares at between KRW 52,000 ($45) and KRW 60,000 each, according to a regulatory filing.
HHI will determine the final offering price after gauging demand from institutional investors and retail investors in the first week of September.
HHI has hired Mirae Asset Securities, Korea Investment & Securities and Credit Suisse Securities as co-managers for the IPO.
The shipbuilder is seeking to raise up to KRW 1.08 trillion via the IPO with the funds going towards the development of eco-friendly ship technologies, autonomous ships as well as to build smart shipyards and offshore hydrogen production plants.
Yonhap News agency reported that HHI has applied to financial regulator Financial Services Commission to sell the shares on the local main stock market.
In a separate regulatory filing, HHI said it would also be using KRW 47bn of the raised funds to repay its debts.
HHI has already exceeded its $7.2bn sales target for 2021. The Ulsan-based shipyard has secured orders for 50 new vessels so far this year.
Last month, HHI struck a pact with yard workers over a two-year-long wage dispute. The agreement included a basic pay rise of KRW 46,000 for 2019, KRW 51,000 for last year, special bonuses for the past two years and other benefits.
It was reported that each unionised worker will get KRW 18m in back pay, which translates to a total of about $113m. There are 7,215 unionised workers at the shipyard.
The deal ended a labour dispute between the shipyard and its workers that has been ongoing since negotiations started in May 2019. During that time, union members rejected two proposed agreements.
HHI, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard are under the control of Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, a subsidiary of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings.
