Bobcat IPO
Doosan Bobcat Inc. submitted the securities registration statement to the Financial Supervisory Commission to make its initial public offering on September 8. The company said that it is scheduled to list its shares on South Korea’s stock exchange (KOSPI) on October 21.
The company will offer 48,981,125 shares at a price range of 41,000 won (US$36.9) to 50,000 won (US$45) a share, meaning it can raise 2.5 trillion won (US$2.17 billion) in total. The offering is going to be arranged jointly by Korea Investment & Securities Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, Hanwha Investment & Securities Co., Shinyoung Securities Co., Credit Suisse Group AG, and HSBC Holdings Plc.
Doosan Bobcat, a maker of small-sized construction equipment, has 30 subsidiaries in 20 countries all over the world with its global headquarters based in South Korea. It has opened up the market for small-sized construction equipment by developing Skid Steer Loader for the first time in the world. Furthermore, it is leading the industry in the North American market.
The construction equipment maker recorded 4.048 trillion won (US$3.64 billion) in revenue and 385.6 billion won (US$347 million) in operating profit last year, which was the best performance since it was acquired by Doosan Infracore. It posted sales of 2.1501 trillion won (US$1.93 billion) and an operating profit of 234.8 billion won (US$211 million) in the first half of the year. The operating profit ratio is increasingly growing to 10.92% in the first half of the year from 9.54% last year.
“As the housing market in the North America, one of the major market, is on the solid rise, we are increasing the share of high value-added products in sales while bolstering our business structure,” said an official at Doosan Bobcat, adding, “We will put more energy into strengthening our business competitiveness in emerging markets along with delivery and marketing of locally specific products, and investment in the service network.”