The public offering price for SK hynix’s American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), ahead of their listing on the Nasdaq, has been set at USD 149 per share. The total amount to be raised is approximately USD 26.5 billion (about KRW 40 trillion). This is the largest-ever initial public offering (IPO) by a foreign company on the U.S. stock market.

Bloomberg reported on the 9th (local time) that the SK hynix ADR offering price had been set at USD 149 per share. Earlier, Bloomberg had reported that SK hynix had indicated USD 149 per share as the guideline price for the ADR offering, and this price has now been confirmed as is.

USD 149 is about 3% higher than the closing price of SK hynix common shares on the Korean stock market. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SK hynix has offered 177.9 million ADR shares. One ADR represents one-tenth of a share of SK hynix common stock.

The size of SK hynix’s fundraising surpasses the approximately USD 25 billion raised by China’s Alibaba Group when it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Including U.S. companies, it is second only to Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX, which debuted last month with an IPO that raised USD 85.7 billion, the largest on record.

On the Nasdaq Global Select Market, conditional trading in SK hynix will begin on this day under the ticker symbol “SKHYV.” Regular trading under the symbol “SKHY” will be possible from the 13th. The offering process is scheduled to be completed on the 14th. The joint bookrunners are Bank of America (BofA), Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan.

ADRs are certificates that are listed and traded on the U.S. stock market based on domestic shares deposited with a custodian institution. U.S. investors can invest in SK hynix in dollars without opening a Korean securities account or exchanging currency.

Bloomberg stated, “This listing is expected to narrow the valuation gap between SK hynix and its U.S. competitor Micron Technology,” adding, “It will reduce the valuation disparity that has long plagued Korean companies.” The previous day, Bloomberg reported that demand in the SK hynix ADR book-building process exceeded the offering volume by more than seven times.

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