April 19, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] SK Lubricants, a wholly-owned lubricant unit of SK Innovation, submitted a report to the government this week as its first step to go public in May, the company said on April 5.

The company expects to secure between 1.2 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) and 1.5 trillion won through the initial public offering, which would be the biggest IPO size this year so far.

Earlier this week, board members of SK Innovation agreed to offer 12,765,957 shares out of its 40 million outstanding shares. SK Lubricants also reached a consensus to newly issue 2,553,191 shares that equate to some 30 percent of current shares.

“Through a successful listing, we will prepare for the steps to become a global company,” SK Lubricants said in a statement.

SK Lubricants began operation of its first premium very high viscosity index group III plant in 1995, upon developing the high-quality lubricant dubbed “Yubase.” The company has advanced into some 50 countries.

It runs a number of joint facilities with global lubricant companies -- including Indonesia’s state-owned oil company Pertamina, Japan’s JX Nippon Oil & Energy, and Spain’s Repsol -- that produce a total of 3.5 million tons of lubricants annually.

SK Lubricants posted 50.4 million won in operating profit last year, with average 13.5 percent growth over the past three years, the company said.
 
By Kim Bo-gyung/The Korea Herald (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)