South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix is set to wrap up the bookbuilding process for its $28 billion American depositary receipt offering on Wednesday U.S. time, after demand from investors far exceeded the available shares, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Underwriters handling the massive deal informed investors that the order books would officially close at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Pricing guidance is expected to follow the Thursday close of the South Korean market, with final allocations confirmed later that same Thursday, the source said.
SK Hynix had previously disclosed in regulatory filings that it planned to set the final ADR price on Thursday, with shares beginning to trade on the Nasdaq on July 10.
The level of investor enthusiasm was striking — U.S.-based buyers came in with individual orders starting around $200 million, while some of the larger commitments topped $1 billion, according to the source.
SK Hynix declined to offer any comment on the offering.
Earlier in the week, the company announced that Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited, along with investment funds managed by Coatue Management and Situational Awareness Partners, had each separately indicated interest in purchasing up to a combined $7 billion worth of the U.S. ADRs.
IFR was first to report Tuesday that the SK Hynix ADR offering had been covered multiple times over by investor orders.
The strong response comes even as global technology stocks took a hit amid renewed conflict in the Middle East. SK Hynix shares themselves dropped as much as 3.59% on Wednesday, yet investor appetite for the offering remained robust.
The company launched the share sale on Monday, putting 17.79 million new shares on the market — a move that places it among the most valuable technology companies in the world.
The transaction is expected to rank as the second-largest share sale on record, trailing only SpaceX’s record-setting $85.7 billion initial public offering last month. It would surpass Saudi Aramco’s $25.6 billion IPO in 2019 and Alibaba’s similarly sized offering in 2014.
SK Hynix is a major supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips that power artificial intelligence systems for companies including Nvidia and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Under the terms of the offering, ten ADRs will represent one common share. A filing from Monday listed a reference price of 242,500 won per ADR, based on SK Hynix’s closing share price in Seoul on July 3.
