SEOUL • Ms Kim Eun-hee wants to complete her collection of memorabilia of Korean boy band BTS by bidding more than US$120,000 (S$165,040) to buy shares in the group's music label Big Hit Entertainment in South Korea's hottest initial public offering (IPO), which could even shake money markets.
Fervour is building among die-hard South Korean BTS fans to secure at least one share of the K-pop band's label as order books for next month's listing opened this week.
"I'm adding my support to BTS by buying shares. It will add to my collection here," Ms Kim, 51, said in the BTS-themed cafe she runs in Seoul, which is filled with BTS merchandise, from a 47-inch wide photo of band member Jin to toys designed by the group.
Big Hit Entertainment is betting that going public will be a smash hit riding on the success of the seven-member band, who have become the first South Korean group to reach No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with catchy song Dynamite.
There is already insatiable demand for new share listings from South Korean retail investors - known as "Ants" - because government stimulus efforts to bolster the economy after the coronavirus crisis has flooded markets with cash.
Analysts predict Big Hit will take the crown as South Korea's hottest IPO, one that the central bank is watching closely as a massive oversubscription of shares could send ripples through short-term money markets.
Big Hit is looking to raise as much as 962.6 billion won (S$1.1 billion) in the IPO that is set to be South Korea's largest in three years. The offering of about 7.1 million new shares is pegged at 105,000 - 135,000 won a share.
But the stock's valuation is less of an issue for Ms Kim and other BTS fans - who are called Army. Ms Kim and four other fans bidding for shares said they would be lucky to pick up just one share even if they place bids for tens of thousands of dollars because of the expected strong retail demand.
The Big Hit listing is expected to make the seven BTS members multimillionaires, as chief executive officer Bang Si-hyuk in August gave them 68,385 shares each.
Some BTS fans plan to buy Big Hit shares for themselves on band members' birthdays or other anniversaries.
Ms Alice Park, a 28-year old banker, is taking out a personal loan of "a couple of hundred grand" to make a bid.
Kim Seo-hyeon, a 12-year-old BTS fan in Seoul, has asked her parents to buy her one share so she could meet the members of the band at a future shareholders meeting.
"I don't know about stock valuations. I know my oppas (BTS band members) are rich, but I hope me buying shares make them even richer, so that they can buy something nice to wear. That would make me happy."
REUTERS
