This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:23 p.m. on Jan. 14, 2026.
Korea's first internet-only bank, Kbank, is seeking to list with a low valuation of 3.3 trillion won, leaving financial investors (FIs) with a complex calculus. The offer price must be set at the top of the indicative band for them to meet their investment cost basis.
They also cannot fully recoup their investment through secondary shares, raising the risk of getting caught in an overhang issue (when potential selling pressure keeps the stock from gaining momentum) when lockups expire later.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry and the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 14th, Kbank submitted a securities registration statement to the Financial Services Commission the previous day for a Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) listing, kicking off the full-fledged IPO process. It comes about two months after filing for a preliminary listing review in Nov. last year.
Of the 60 million shares slated for the IPO, Kbank allocated about half, or 30 million, to secondary shares. The desired offer price range is 8,300–9,500 won per share, for an offering size of about 498 billion–570 billion won. Based on the offer range, the post-listing market capitalization would be about 3.367 trillion–3.854 trillion won. The corresponding price-to-book ratio (PBR) range is about 1.38–1.56 times.
The problem is that the secondary allotment is far too small to dispose of about 120 million shares held by major FIs such as MBK Partners, Bain Capital and MG Community Credit Cooperative. The volume FIs can offload is around 29% of the total, meaning they must settle for partial cash-outs. Some investors, including Com2uS, were not allocated any secondary shares at all. Most FIs face a long slog after the listing.
FIs also face a dilemma on returns. They entered around 6,500 won per share when investing 1.25 trillion won in 2021, and need the share price to exceed 9,500 won to achieve the contracted internal rate of return (IRR) of 8% per year. That roughly matches only the top of the offer band (9,500 won), effectively forcing FIs to accept a "no-profit exit."
If Kbank fails to list by July this year, FIs have the right to sell into the market, including the 31.23% equity held by the largest shareholder, BC Card. However, given the banking sector's limited growth profile, even if the asset is put up for sale in the M&A market, it may be hard to find a suitable buyer.
Experts see a higher chance of further negotiations between the FIs and BC Card, but those talks may not proceed smoothly given BC Card's funding situation. That is the backdrop for Kbank pursuing a listing even without certainty about how the market will value it.
Even if the stock trades well early on, it is unclear whether the momentum will last. Immediately after listing, Kbank's freely tradable float would be 36.35% of total shares. The portion that unlocks three months after listing is 8.83%, and the portion that unlocks after six months is 20.68%. If FIs move to exit when lockups expire, an "IPO horror story," with shares sinking below the offer price, could replay.
In particular, FIs that can sell their equity only six months after listing face bigger concerns: ▲ Woori Bank (9.22% sellable after six months) ▲ Bain Capital (1.9%), MBK Partners (1.9%) ▲ MG Community Credit Cooperative (1.34%) ▲ NH Investment & Securities (5.11%) ▲ JS PE–Shinhan Investment Partners (1.19%).
Meanwhile, Kbank plans to take institutional investor book-building from Feb. 4 to 10, followed by retail investors' subscription for two trading days on the 20th–23rd of the same month. The lead underwriters are NH Investment & Securities and Samsung Securities, with Shinhan Investment & Securities joining the underwriting syndicate. Kbank posted net profits of 12.8 billion won in 2023, 128.1 billion won in 2024, and 103.4 billion won through the third quarter of 2025.