GM's EV battery partner LG Energy to launch record IPO in South Korea

Seoul

LG Energy Solution plans to raise as much as 12.75 trillion won (S$15 billion) in what would be South Korea's biggest-ever initial public offering (IPO), defying concerns over fires involving its batteries that led to a mass recall of Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles (EVs).

The company will issue 34 million new shares priced between 257,000 won and 300,000 won each, it said in a filing on Tuesday (Dec 7). Parent LG Chem will sell 850,000 shares, bringing the total to 42.5 million shares, and easily topping a previous Korean record from 2010, when Samsung Life Insurance raised US$4.4 billion. Retail investors can subscribe on Jan 18 and 19.

LG Energy, the world's second-largest battery maker, replaced its chief executive officer in October and set aside US$918 million to cover costs related to the recall of more than 100,000 Chevrolet Bolts due to battery-fire risks.

That same month, the company signed a deal with Stellantis to build a cell factory in North America. LG Energy is also expected to invest in plants for cylinder-type batteries in North America or Europe, according to Rho Wooho, an analyst at Meriz Securities.

LG Energy's IPO comes as EVs become more popular and widely accepted globally, and with the outlook brightening on more policy support and improvements in battery density and costs. Passenger EV sales, including plug-in hybrids, are forecast to increase to 14 million in 2025 from 3.1 million in 2020 and represent about 16 per cent of total passenger vehicle sales, according to BloombergNEF. The price of an average battery pack is expected to fall to US$93/kWh in 2024, US$58/kWh in 2030, and US$45/kWh by 2035, BNEF said.

"LG seemed to try to reflect almost all of the cost related to the GM recall in the third quarter, and that means there would be probably no more cost next year," said Changhyun Jeon, an analyst at IBK Securities. BLOOMBERG