[Market Insight] THiRA-UTECH, a smart factory company invested by SK, will be listed on KOSDAQ within this year.

THiRA-UTECH, a smart factory solution company, will request listing preliminary screening in the first half of this year and will be listed on the KOSDAQ market this year. THiRA-UTECH attracted investment from SK (226,500 + 0.44%) and received the attention of the investment bank (IB) industry.

According to the investment banking industry on the 21st, THiRA-UTECH plans to apply for a preliminary screening at KOSDAQ Market Headquarters next month. As soon as approval for preliminary screening for listing is made, the company will complete its entry into KOSDAQ within the year. Mirae Asset Daewoo (8,070 + 1.38%) is the leading organizer of THiRA-UTECH’s IPO.

Founded in 2006, THiRA-UTECH is a smart factory solution company. The company has secured major domestic and foreign conglomerates as customers through its solution business including purchasing supply chain management (SCM), manufacturing and logistics optimization, and facility and factory automation. SK Hynix (80,400 + 2.55%), SKC (43,150 + 0.35%), SK Innovation (177,000 + 2.02%), SK C & C (SK Group), Samsung SDS (214,000 + 0.23%), Samsung Electronics (47,400 + 0.42% ), Samsung Display, Samsung SDI (243,000 + 0.62%) (Samsung Group), LG (75,700 + 2.57%) CNS, LG Display (17,100 + 1.48%), LG Chem (359,500 + 0.70%) (LG Group) , Hanwha (25,750 + 0.19%) S & C, Hanwha Techwin, Hanwha Q CELLS (Hanwha Group) and Taiwan Foxconn are all customers of THiRA-UTECH. The company plans to expand the smart factory solution business based on the secured customers.

THiRA-UTECH became a hot topic in July, attracting investment of KRW 4.2 billion from SK Corporation in the form of redeemable convertible preferred stock (RCPS). Other investments were made by venture capital (VC) Atinum Investment (1,995 + 1.01%) as well. Currently, the company’s largest shareholder is CEO Jeong-ha Kim, who owns a 42.1% stake. The third major shareholder is SK Corp., with 18.1%. Last year, THiRA-UTECH posted sales of KRW 22.8 billion, operating profit of 1.7 billion won, and net profit of 1.5 billion won.

The IB industry is paying attention to whether THiRA-UTECH can do well aboard the atmosphere of the recent public offering market where companies related to the 4th Industrial Revolution such as smart factories are emerging. It is evaluated that the expectation of seeing more work related to IT such as smart factories is reflected in the background of success of Hyundai Autoever (54,100 -1.28%), an information technology (IT) subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, listed on the securities market in March

Lee ko-eun
ccat@hankyung.com