SK Hynix Sets ADR Price at $149, Bringing $26.5 Billion Raise Into View

SK Hynix has set the offering price for its American depositary receipts at $149 a share, according to a Bloomberg report. At that price, the deal would raise about $26.5 billion.

Bloomberg reported on July 9, citing people familiar with the matter, that SK Hynix fixed the ADR offering price at $149 a share. Bloomberg had previously reported that the company presented $149 a share as price guidance for the deal, and that level was later finalized.

SK Hynix declined to comment. The final offer price is due to be disclosed at 8 a.m. Korea time on July 10. The $149 price is about 3.1% above the July 9 closing price of SK Hynix common shares in Seoul. The stock ended the session at 218,600 won, or $144.5.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, SK Hynix offered 177.9 million ADRs. Each ADR represents one-tenth of an SK Hynix common share.

If priced at $149, the total deal size would be about $26.5 billion. That would surpass Alibaba's $25 billion initial public offering and mark the largest US listing ever by a foreign company.

Demand for the deal was strong. Bloomberg reported a day earlier that orders in the SK Hynix ADR bookbuilding exceeded seven times the shares on offer.

Total demand reached $200 billion. About half of the shares offered were allocated to the top 10 accounts, according to the report. The top 25 accounts secured about two-thirds of the total allocation.

Global long-term investment funds, technology-focused funds, sovereign wealth funds and global investors specializing in Asia were among the participants. Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management and Situational Awareness were reported to have expressed interest in investing as much as $7 billion.

Lee Song-ryeol, Hankyung.com reporter yisr0203@hankyung.com