This article was published on July 1, 2025, at 4:29 p.m. on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site.
AI, which successfully turned profitable last year, has replaced its underwriting firm from Korea Investment & Securities to Shinhan Investment Corp. There are interpretations suggesting that Korea Investment & Securities has neglected small and medium-sized initial public offerings (IPOs) due to focusing heavily on large IPOs, resulting in the loss of clients.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 1st, AI has recently selected Shinhan Investment Corp. as its new IPO underwriter and is coordinating the submission date for the preliminary review application. Shinhan Investment Corp. plans to initiate due diligence to evaluate AI's corporate value.
AI is reported to have changed its underwriter in search of a securities firm that will carefully manage its IPO process. An IB industry source noted, "Large securities firms tend to focus on large IPOs, which offer higher fees, and thus may overlook relatively smaller corporations."
Founded in 2000, AI is a specialized company in display and semiconductor process equipment. It develops and manufactures semiconductor measurement equipment, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) inspection equipment, and wafer logistics equipment, supplying these to domestic and international display and semiconductor corporations.
AI plans to list on the KOSDAQ with a valuation of 200 billion won. The company is expected to progress smoothly in its IPO process, thanks to its achievement of 20 billion won in operating profit last year. Its revenue also recorded 213 billion won, marking a 65% increase from the previous year.
The positive trend in stock prices of peer corporations is also encouraging. Corporations preparing for an IPO assess their corporate value compared to those that are already listed. Therefore, if comparable companies receive favorable evaluations in the securities market, the valuation of the IPO-bound corporation naturally increases.
Corporations belonging to similar industries or engaged in similar businesses have recorded an average price-to-earnings ratio (PER) of 179 times based on last year's operating profit. Examples include ▲Koyoung at 434.74 times, ▲Techwing at 51.4 times, and ▲Park Systems at 51.3 times. Although PEMTRON, Top Material, and EXICON are still unprofitable, they collectively maintain a market capitalization of 100 billion to 200 billion won.
If AI goes public, Dominus Investment, a domestic private equity fund (PEF) operator, is also expected to succeed in recouping its investment. Dominus acquired 15 billion won worth of AI convertible bonds (EB) through a blind fund in September 2020. The exchange price of this EB is around 31,032 won per share. Considering the total number of shares, it translates to an investment of approximately 75 billion won.