This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 2:43 p.m. on Dec. 21, 2025.
SK ecoplant held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders and decided to sharply lower the conversion price of financial investors' (FI) convertible preferred shares (CPS) from the initial price of 90,000 won to the 50,000-won range. The plan is to speed up preparations for listing by lowering the threshold for FIs to realize revenue.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 21st, SK ecoplant decided to vote at the extraordinary general meeting on the morning of the 22nd at 10 a.m. to reduce the CPS conversion price from 90,000 won to 53,000 won. The conversion price for redeemable convertible preferred shares (RCPS) will not be adjusted. RCPS carry a redemption right, so there is a way to guarantee the invested principal and interest without a conversion price refixing.
Earlier in 2022, SK ecoplant attracted pre-IPO investment of about 1 trillion won. Eum Private Equity, Q Capital Partners, Premier Partners and KY PE invested 600 billion won in CPS. Glenwood Credit and Korea Investment & Securities invested 400 billion won in RCPS.
The issue price per preferred share was 450,000 won for CPS and 425,535 won for RCPS. Both came with a condition to convert one preferred share into five common shares. In other words, the initial common stock investment price was 90,000 won for CPS and 85,107 won for RCPS.
However, later during the stock swap and third-party allotment paid-in capital increase process, the new share issuance price was set at a lower 73,377 won than the FIs' preferred share conversion price, and it was reported that the CPS conversion price was expected to fall below the 80,000-won level.
After discussions, SK ecoplant and the CPS investors decided to sharply lower the conversion price to 53,000 won. From the FIs' perspective, the lower the preferred share conversion price (investment price), the more shares can be obtained when converted into common shares. In that case, even if the initial public offering (IPO) subscription price is set lower than expected, the break-even point falls, reducing the recovery risk.
With the CPS conversion price sharply lowered this time, SK ecoplant can accelerate its listing. Previously, SK ecoplant FIs had maintained the position that the company should postpone listing because it would be difficult to meet the qualified listing requirements (Q-IPO) next year. Q-IPO was originally about 120,000 won but was reportedly lowered to the low 80,000-won range. SK ecoplant plans to file a preliminary listing review application with the Korea Exchange (KRX) by Jan. 20 next year. Under the shareholders' agreement, the listing application must be filed by that date to avoid penalties to the FIs.
Now the biggest question is how SK ecoplant will clear the Korea Exchange (KRX) threshold. Industry sources point out that it will not be easy to pass the listing preliminary review because the company received a "gross negligence" level sanction in the audit result over accounting violations by its U.S. subsidiary.
SK ecoplant was fined 5.41 billion won after violating accounting standards, including overstating sales of its U.S. subsidiary from 2022 to 2023. Former and current CEOs also received fines. The exchange can refuse a listing for companies that have been fined following accounting audits of financial statements for the most recent three business years.