LG Chem's LG Energy Solution (LGES) IPO attracted huge interest and was oversubscribed at a price of 300,000 won each. In total, investors purchased 42.5 million shares or about 18.2% of the company for 12.8 trillion won ($10.76 billion).
LGES was listed on the Korea Exchange (KRX) on January 27, 2022 and the closing price after the first day was 68% above the IPO - 505,000 won ($418). It was even higher during the beginning of the day - 598,000 won ($494).
According to Reuters, LGES in its "stellar stock debut" become the #2 most valuable company in South Korea. LGES's market value of 118 trillion won ($98 billion) is lower only than Samsung Electronics Co at 492 trillion won ($410 billion).
That's a pretty awesome result and proof that the lithium-ion battery manufacturer that supplies batteries for automakers is on the rise.
It's expected that each of the largest EV battery manufacturers will expand their business (by volume) by at least an order of magnitude in the next 10 years. An additional engine of growth is battery energy storage systems (home and utility-scale).
Many of the top manufacturers already outlined plans to build manufacturing capacity of hundreds of GWh per year. According to the latest trend, most of the new plants in the west are joint ventures between battery manufacturers and particular automotive groups.
In 2021, LG Energy Solution was the global #2 li-ion battery supplier, behind the Chinese CATL, but far ahead of the Japanese Panasonic.
Among the top EV battery manufacturers we can list also SK Innovation's SK On, Samsung SDI and BYD. SK On might be the next in line for a large battery IPO.
