■ Held a press conference in Yeouido, Seoul on the 22nd to brief business visions and strategies

■ Planning to solidify the top position in the premium film separator market with massive growth potentials

– Surpassed 40% EBITDA margin last year… With prospect of high growth and high margin in the premium market

■ Planning to foster future driving momentum businesses…as well as solid-state battery related materials

■“A successful IPO will lead to an opportunity to raise SKIET’s competitiveness and more efforts will be made toward contributing to the growth of EV-related industries,” says CEO Roh Jae-sok

SK IE Technology (hereinafter SKIET), a materials subsidiary of SK Innovation, announced its post-IPO visions and business strategies at Conrad Seoul in Yeouido on the 22nd.

Executing the initial public offering this day, CEO and President Roh Jae-sok of SKIET said, “We plan to solidify the market leader position in the premium battery separator market with explosive growth potentials by gradually increasing the market share.” “After a successful IPO, we will raise business competitiveness and contribute to the ecosystem for EV related industries.”

■ No.1 in premium film separator market, building a highly profitable business model for strong growth potentials

SKIET is leading the premium battery separator market and making high profits. The sales amount last year was KRW 469.3 billion, up by a whopping 78.4% year-over-year (YoY, reflecting Q2 through Q4 2019 at the time of division). The company is also highly profitable. The operating profit and net profit of the term recorded approximately KRW 125.2 billion and 88.2 billion, up by 55.4% and 38.4% YoY, respectively. The EBITDA margin recorded a whopping 41.9%.

According to SNE Research, SKIET was ranked number one in the Tier 1 wet process separator market last year, with the percentage of 26.5%. Tier 1 film separator market is a top-notch film separator market that supplies to EVs of leading car makers such as Tesla, Volkswagen, Renault-Nissan, Ford, and Hyundai Motor Group. Including SKIET, companies capable of manufacturing high-quality separators such as Asahi Kasei and Toray of Japan are in this group, which is expected to show high growth and high margin.

The future prospect of SKIET’s business field is also bright. The proportion of Tier 1 market in the entire wet separator market for EVs is expected to increase from 44% in 2018 to 69% in 2025. As the demand grows, a supply shortage is expected from 2023. This market is also characterized by high delivery unit prices. The average price gap for separator between supplies to Tier 1 and other companies was approximately 60% as of last year, but by 2025, this gap is expected to almost double up to 97%.

SKIET has made an accelerated growth in the film separator market for EVs. Last year, the sales volumes of wet process separators for EVs grew 490% from 2018. Considering the fact that the market grew approximately 19%, the company is quickly taking up the market.

SKIET is proliferating trades between global EV manufacturers, and has stabilized its position in highly profitable industries such as smartphones, tablets, electronic tools and various IT products based on confidence in the IT separator industry.

SKIET has also established massive overseas production bases through preemptive extensions of the recent Plants 3 and 4 in Europe, which is one of the core EV markets, as part of its plans to strengthen the market governance. The production capacity SKIET has secured so far reaches 1.04 billion m², which is enough to supply for about 1 million EVs per year. The production capacity will further increase to 2.73 billion m² by 2024.

■ Gaining new growth engine through R&D and propelling ESG management strategy

Through aggressive R&D investments, SKIET has introduced the world’s first sequential stretching technology in 2007. In 2013, the company also secured distinctive technological competitiveness and product quality by developing the 5㎛ thickness film separator for the first time in the world. It’s been raising productivity and profitability through consistent facility investment and process technology improvement by improving the facility and securing operational knowhow.

SKIET is also preparing to develop a material that will be used in solid-state batteries. In addition, the company is expanding its business portfolios by securing product competitiveness to preoccupy the future display market with multi-folding, rollable, e-mobility and transparent displays by developing the FCW technology, an essential material for flexible displays.

SKIET is also pursuing ESG management strategy that focuses on sustainability. The company has introduced a goal of achieving 100% green electricity in all of its manufacturing plants at home and abroad. Earlier this year, SKIET started converted the electricity used in all business sites in Korea into eco-friendly source. Through this, it achieved a 70% reduction in carbon emissions from separator production. This will be expanded to other overseas sites soon. Furthermore, the company is taking the lead in the ESG management by saving up industrial water usage and reducing wastes through recycling.

The total number of stocks of SKIET to be offered through IPO is 21.39 million stocks, and the optimal public offering price per stock range is between KRW 78,000 and KRW 105,000. The public offering price (POP) will be confirmed by predicting the demand of institutional investors on April 22^nd to 23^rd and IPO subscription will be open to general investors on the 28^th and 29^th. The estimated period of IPO is in the middle of next month. The book runners in this IPO will be Mirae Asset Securities and JP Morgan, with Korea Investment & Securities and Credit Suisse (CS) participating as joint lead managers, and SK Securities, Samsung Securities and NH Investment & Securities participating as underwriters.

[Photo]

CEO of SK IE Technology Roh Jae-sok gives a presentation and answers questions at the press conference held at Yeouido, Seoul, Korea on April 22^nd.