All Grown Up
LS Cable & System announced on Sept. 7 that its Vietnamese unit is seeking to get listed on the South Korean stock market and has picked Korea Investment & Securities Co. and Hana Financial Investment Co. as the co-lead manager for the listing of LS Cable Asia.
LS Cable Asia is a holding company that was set up in Korea in May this year by LS Cable in a bid to float its two affiliated companies in Vietnam on the Korean stock market. The company will undergo screening in preparation for going public on the stock market, and complete the IPO in 2016. Also, it will be the first overseas investing corporation of the domestic company to be listed on the Korean stock market.
LS Cable Asia is the largest cable maker in Vietnam with a 30 percent market share by securing a stable supply to the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN). Combined sales of its two subsidiaries reached 400 billion won (US$332.14 million) in 2014, an increase by as much as 230 times from 1.7 billion won (US$1.41 million) in 1996 at the time when LS C&S first entered the Vietnamese market.
LS Cable plans to expand its investment in Vietnam with the funds raised from the listing, and foster it as a strategic position in Southeast Asia. With the economic growth, the company expects to see rapid growth in sales of extra-high-voltage cables, as the country will push ahead with government-initiated power projects. With the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also showing an average economic growth rate of more than 5 percent, the investment in electricity and communication infrastructure is expected to grow as well.
After LS Cable founded LS-VINA Cable (LS-VINA) in Hai Phong City in northern Vietnam in 1996, the company has grown rapidly along with Vietnam’s economic growth by producing power cables. It also established LS Cable Vietnam (LSCV) in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam in 2006, and has been growing with the production of communications cables.
LS Cable’s Vietnamese branch has received not only awards for meritorious services in export but also Labor Medals from the Vietnamese government as the exemplary case of a foreign investment business. The company is also recently expanding exports to Latin American countries, including Peru, Brazil, and Argentina, as well as Asia-Pacific nations such as Singapore and Australia. The Vietnamese operation aims to record 480 billion won (US$398.57 million) in sales and 21 billion won (US$17.44 million) in operating profits in 2015.