South Korea’s Hotel Lotte Co Ltd plans to raise up to 5.7 trillion won ($4.85 billion) next month, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, in what would be the world’s biggest initial public offering since late 2015.
The sprawling Lotte Group announced last year it would list Hotel Lotte, which includes the third-largest global duty-free retail chain, as part of efforts to simplify its ownership structure amid a family feud over leadership succession.
The listing would headline a bumper year for South Korean IPOs, fuelled by a rise in the share market and as conglomerates that dominate Asia’s fourth-largest economy restructure.
Preliminary plans call for shareholders to sell about 13.65 million shares, or a 10 percent post-listing stake, while 34.2 million new shares, a 25 percent stake, would be issued at an indicative price range of 97,000 won to 120,000 won per share, one source said.
The listing is expected on June 30, one of the people said, requesting anonymity because the informatin was not yet public.
A Lotte Group spokesman declined to comment.
The IPO, which would raise between 4.7 trillion won and 5.7 trillion won based on the preliminary price range, could top South Korea’s previous biggest float, that of Samsung Life Insurance Co Ltd for 4.9 trillion won in 2010.
Other listings this year from South Korea may include offerings from biotech drug contract manufacturer Samsung Biologics and construction equipment maker Doosan Bobcat Inc.
The market capitalisation of Hotel Lotte could be as much as 16.4 trillion won, based on the preliminary share price range. The listing would be the world’s biggest since Japan Post Holdings Co Ltd raised $5.7 billion in October, 2015.
