SK Hynix ADRs priced at $149, aiming for record $26.5 billion U.S. offering

SK Hynix has finalized the offering price for its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) at $149 per share, a move expected to raise a substantial $26.5 billion, approximately 40 trillion Korean won. This significant fundraising effort positions the South Korean semiconductor giant to achieve the largest-ever stock offering by a foreign company on the U.S. stock market.

The scale of this offering surpasses even Alibaba Group's $25 billion IPO in 2014. When including U.S. domestic companies, SK Hynix's offering ranks second only to Elon Musk's SpaceX, which raised $75 billion in its recent IPO.

ADRs allow investors to trade shares of foreign companies on U.S. exchanges without needing a local brokerage account or currency exchange. Each SK Hynix ADR represents one-tenth of a common share. The offering includes the issuance of up to 17.79 million new shares, constituting about 2.5% of the company's total outstanding shares.

Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase are leading the underwriting syndicate, with nine other firms also participating. The ADRs are set to begin temporary trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol 'SKHYV' before transitioning to regular trading on the 13th.

Bloomberg News suggested that this listing could help SK Hynix narrow the valuation gap with its U.S. competitor, Micron Technology, addressing a persistent issue of undervaluation for Korean companies. Reports indicate that the ADR offering was met with strong demand, with subscription requests exceeding seven times the available volume during the book-building process.