Elice plunges 29% on KOSDAQ debut despite strong Korea IPO demand - Chosunbiz

Artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company Elice is plunging more than 29% in early trading on its first day on KOSDAQ. Although it drew more than 1 trillion won in subscription deposits during its initial public offering (IPO), the stock is trading well below the offer price after listing.

As of 9:14 a.m. on the 20th, Elice(0158S0) is trading on the KOSDAQ market at 64,200 won, down 26,300 won (29.06%) from the offer price (90,500 won). During the session, it fell to as low as 61,000 won.

Elice earlier succeeded in its public offering subscription. On the 7th to 8th, in the subscription for retail investors, it posted a competition rate of 408 to 1. About 1.025999 trillion won in subscription deposits flowed in.

In the book-building for institutional investors, 2,367 institutions at home and abroad participated, recording a competition rate of 388.84 to 1. The offer price was set at 90,500 won, the top end of the indicated range (74,000 to 90,500 won). The total offering amount was about 201.1 billion won, and the expected market capitalization before listing was about 1.0054 trillion won. However, with the stock tumbling early in the session, market capitalization remains in the 700 billion won range.

Founded in 2015, Elice is a company that provides everything from AI computing infrastructure to cloud services and industry-specific AI transformation (AX) solutions. Last year on a consolidation basis, it posted revenue of 39.5 billion won and operating profit of 5.2 billion won. In the first half of this year, it recorded revenue of 34.4 billion won and operating profit of 10.3 billion won.

Elice plans to use the funds secured through this listing to build AI data centers and expand its overseas business. It aims to expand AI infrastructure mainly outside the Seoul metropolitan area and to grow its data center and AX solution businesses in the United States, Singapore, and Japan.