South Korea's SM Line plans to take its fleet of 11 containerships public with listing on the Korea Exchange.

The liner company has appointed Mirae Asset Daewoo as underwriter for am initial public offering (IPO), while NH Investment & Securities will be acting as book running lead manager.

A SM Line executive confirmed the IPO plan and said the company aims to go public by end this year.

He added that SM Line plans to use the funds raised from the capital market to expand its fleet, invest in containers to provide better services and explore new business opportunities.

The transpacific specialist said its service loop between Asia and the US has improved significantly after joining boxship giants AP Moller-Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) last year on a space-sharing deal on six services from California and the Pacific north-west. The partnership agreement with the 2M Alliance is valid until March 2023.

SM Line said the cooperation with 2M has also helped the company to reduce operating costs.

With the recovery of containership freight rates, SM Line is expecting to report a profit of around $125m for 2020, its highest earning since it was launched in 2018 after acquiring assets from bankrupt Hanjin Shipping. In 2019, the company registered loss of $22.35m.

SM Line has set an operating profit target for 2021 pf more than KRW 140bn ($125.75m). The company is looking to expand service loop to US East Coast and add more trade lanes to Asia.

The company has looked to investments beyond operating containerships.

SM Line participated in bidding for Busan-based Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction (HHIC) at the end of last year. The company was selected as the reserved bidder, while construction company Dongbu Construction was chosen as the preferred bidder.

A total of 83.45% of HHIC is up for sale, with Korea Development Bank (KDB) marketing 63% on behalf of itself and seven other South Korean financial institutions. KDB owns 16% of the shipyard.

SM Line is the liner arm of Samra Midas Group, which also owns bulker companies Korea Line Corp and Korea Shipping Corp, formerly Samsun Logix. Samra Midas is a South Korean conglomerate known as a construction firm.