Angel Robotics triples starting price in Kosdaq debut
Angel Robotics successfully marked its entry into the Kosdaq market Tuesday, with its shares closing at triple its initial price. Market observers suggest that Angel Robotics’ entry into the stock market will fuel the momentum of robotics stocks.
According to the Korea Exchange, Angel Robotics shares closed at 65,000 won ($48.51), an increase of 225 percent compared to its initial public offering (IPO) price of 20,000 won.
Established in 2017, Angel Robotics is a company producing wearable robots, including those for rehabilitation, medical treatment and industry safety. During its early phase, LG Electronics recognized the company’s technological strength and proceeded with a seed investment.
The company’s IPO bolstered expectations with its successful demand forecasting and public subscription processes. The institutional investor book-building finalized the IPO price at 20,000 won, surpassing the expected range of 11,000 to 15,000 won. In the follow-up public subscription, it attracted 541,588 applications, resulting in a subscription ratio of 2,242 to 1. The total subscription deposit amounted to about 8.968 trillion won.
Even though the company failed to achieve a quadruple price on its debut day, the legal limit for newly issued stocks, this success still raised the company’s capital to 92 billion won. The company plans to bolster its R&D competitiveness and prepare for entry into the global market through the IPO.
Attention is focused on whether Angel Robotics’ success can steer the investment sentiment towards robot stocks, which are showing signs of rebound this month. This is driven by major domestic corporations intensifying their investments in the robotics industry, viewing the sector as vital for future growth, and the series of successful IPOs.
According to the Korea Exchange, Doosan Robotics, a leading robot stock on the benchmark KOSPI, has seen its shares increase by 15.6 percent so far this month. Another representative robotic stock on the secondary Kosdaq market, Rainbow Robotics, has also experienced an increase of 16.8 percent as of Tuesday.
However, several drawbacks exist, including the fact that the majority of companies in similar sectors are still not profitable and that the market is at an early growth stage. Angel Robotics has also encountered debates over its valuation, given that it has not turned a profit since its inception. There’s also the risk of an economic downturn.
Yet, market observers are positively assessing the industry’s growth prospects.
“Domestic firms specializing in collaborative robots have outpaced their global rivals in revenue growth over the past three years,” Kang Daeseok, an analyst at Yuanta Securities, said. “With interest rate concerns for domestic robotics stocks beginning to ease since the latter half of last year, there’s an increased likelihood that an optimistic economic outlook could further boost robotics shares.”