This article was published on Jan. 7, 2025, at 4:28 p.m. on the CHOSUNBIZ MoneyMove site.
As the stock prices of robotics corporations have risen after being suppressed for some time, private equity fund (PEF) managers and venture capital (VC) firms are growing increasingly optimistic about recovering their investments. News from abroad indicated that big tech companies such as NVIDIA are set to release computers for robotics, while in South Korea, Samsung Electronics has become the largest shareholder of Rainbow Robotics, leading to improved investor sentiment.
According to the Korea Exchange on the 7th, Rainbow Robotics recorded a price of 242,000 won, an increase of 9,000 won (3.86%) from the previous trading day. Recently, the news that Samsung Electronics plans to incorporate Rainbow Robotics as a subsidiary has resulted in the stock price of Rainbow Robotics rising for five consecutive trading days. The stock price, which was 141,200 won on Dec. 27 of last year, has jumped by 71.3% as of this day.
With a warm trend in the stock prices of robotics stocks, both individual investors and institutional investors are considering the timing for recovering their investments. There are private equity fund (PEF) managers like Praxis Capital Partners who have struck it big with investments in robotics corporations (Doosan Robotics), yet there are still firms that have not yet recovered their investments.
A typical example is OpenWater Investment, which invested in the robotics specialized edutech company ALUX, which went public last November. OpenWater Investment participated in the funding process before the IPO, holding 688,190 shares of ALUX. MOBIRIX Partners and UNS Partners hold 46,621 shares and 41,959 shares of ALUX, respectively, but have been unable to sell them due to being locked in during the lock-up period.
As the stock price of ALUX approaches the offering price of 16,000 won again, these investors can also expect to recover their funds. The stock price of ALUX has risen by 19.9% over five trading days to 13,950 won. It is reported that VC firms such as IMM Investment, Lotte Ventures, and Wooshin Venture Investment have made significant sales around the time the lock-up period was released, both immediately after listing and a month later.
The stock price of robotics solution firm ZENIX, invested in by AIM Investment, is also rebounding. AIM Investment, along with KB Securities and Kiwoom Capital, invested 20 billion won for a 20.63% stake in ZENIX. Although the stock price of ZENIX, which went public in September of last year, initially fell after listing, it is now experiencing a rebound, having risen by 35% over five trading days to close at 29,400 won. However, the shares of financial investors (FI) will remain locked until March 30.
The growing expectations among institutional investors for recovering their investments also imply significant concerns about an overhang (large-scale sell-off), which necessitates caution from individual investors. This is because a flood of sell orders may be unleashed when the lock-up period ends. The recent rise in the stock prices of robotics corporations seems to be driven more by expectations than by performance, suggesting that the volatility of stock prices could increase further.
Meanwhile, there are places where investment sentiment for robotics stocks has improved, leading to increased expectations for public offerings. One representative example is Bear Robotics, a serving robot manufacturer that received investment from IMM Private Equity. In 2022, IMM PE invested 100 billion won alongside notable investors such as Cleveland Avenue, KT, Smilegate, and DSC Investment. It is also known that LG Electronics made a strategic investment of 80 billion won in Bear Robotics at the beginning of last year, at which time Bear Robotics was reported to have been valued at 700 billion won.
Thanks to the improved investment sentiment for robotics stocks, it is expected that financial investors (FIs) will also reap significant profits if Bear Robotics successfully goes public. Bear Robotics is known to be considering both a NASDAQ listing and a domestic listing. An investment banking industry official noted, "For an initial public offering (IPO) to proceed successfully, the market environment is also very important."