SK Hynix has priced its American Depositary Receipt (ADR) offering at $149 per share ahead of its planned Nasdaq debut on July 10, completing what is expected to become the largest U.S. equity offering ever by a foreign company.
The South Korean semiconductor manufacturer announced the pricing on its English-language website on Wednesday.
The offering comprises 177.9 million ADRs, with each ADR representing one-tenth of a common share, equivalent to approximately 17.79 million common shares.
The final offering price represents a premium of about 2.9% compared with the converted closing price of SK Hynix shares on the Korean stock market the previous day. Unlike many large public offerings that are priced at a discount to attract investors, SK Hynix opted to price the shares above the prevailing market value.
At $149 per ADR, the company is expected to raise approximately $26.5 billion, making it the largest capital raise by a foreign company in U.S. stock market history. The offering surpasses Alibaba Group’s $25 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 and ranks second overall behind the recent listing by SpaceX.
According to Bloomberg, investor demand exceeded the number of shares available by more than seven times.
The offering reportedly attracted strong interest from long-term institutional investors, technology-focused investment funds, sovereign wealth funds and global investors specialising in Asian equities.
The ADR offering is being led by Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, with nine additional investment banks participating in the underwriting syndicate.
Investment firms including Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management and Sequential Awareness are reported to have indicated interest amounting to as much as $7 billion.
