DH Shipbuilding in South Korea plans to go public in 2025.
The medium-size shipbuilder is aiming to launch an IPO on the Korea Stock Exchange during the second half of next year.
Haenam-based DH has picked KB Securities and NH Investment & Securities as its underwriters, with Shinyoung Securities to act as the joint underwriter.
The amount that DH is looking to raise from the listing has not been disclosed. Financial players estimated its enterprise value at more than KRW 1trn ($744m).
Shipbuilding sources said the yard wants to tap into the strong shipbuilding market by going public.
One broker describes DH as a profitable shipyard that specialises in building aframax and suezmax tankers.
DH Shipbuilding is the former Daehan Shipbuilding, which was under the control of state-owned Korea Development Bank when it filed for bankruptcy restructuring in 2009 after the shipbuilding market collapsed.
In 2022, merger-and-acquisition specialist KH Investment paid the bank about $200m to acquire around 90% of the shipyard.
Under KH control, the shipyard’s financial situation improved drastically. It is said to have registered an operating income of KRW 816bn and operating profit of close to KRW 36bn in 2023.
For the first half of this year, DH was reported to have achieved an operating income of KRW 460bn and operating profit of about KRW 57.5bn.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network shows DH has built up an orderbook of 29 tanker newbuildings, of which 22 are suezmaxes. The value of the orderbook is said to be worth around $2.6bn and the yard’s berths are packed until first half of 2027.
Shipyard officials were not available for comment.
