Private equity-controlled South Korean hypermarket chain Homeplus Co Ltd has filed for a domestic initial public offering of a real estate investment trust (REIT) which could raise up to $1.5 billion, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.
Homeplus, South Korea’s second-largest hypermarket chain with 142 stores, filed with the stock exchange on Friday and set a price range of between 4,530 won ($4.03) and 5,000 won ($4.45), the term sheet showed.
The IPO could raise 1.6 trillion-1.7 trillion won ($1.4 billion-$1.51 billion) and give the REIT a valuation of between 2.2 trillion won and 2.5 trillion won ($1.96 billion-$2.23 billion). It would be South Korea’s biggest IPO since Netmarble Corp’s float in 2017.
Private equity firm MBK Partners bought Homeplus from Tesco PLC for $6.1 billion in 2015.
The proceeds from the IPO will be used to acquire properties from Homeplus, the term sheet said.
A spokesman for Homeplus did not have any immediate comment.
South Korea’s REITs listings are worth only a fraction of other countries’, with just a handful of REITs listed on the benchmark KOSPI as of Friday, according to the Korea Exchange website.
Homeplus will begin the IPO roadshow on Feb. 28 and price it on March 14, with the listing slated for March 29, according to the term sheet.
Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are joint global coordinators for the transaction.
Reuters