이 기사는 2019년 10월 16일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

A total of ten domestic and foreign securities firms are likely to compete for a role in Hyundai Card's initial public offering (IPO).

According to investment banking industry sources on October 10, Hyundai Card has sent request for proposals (RFP) to ten brokerages at home and abroad. The company included many foreign brokerages on the potential underwriter list, considering the scale of the deal. NH Investment & Securities, Mirae Asset Daewoo, Korea Investment & Securities, KB Securities, Shinhan Investment Corp., JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citi Global Market Securities, BOA Merrill Lynch, and Credit Suisse are the ones who received the RFP.

South Korea's leading card issuer Hyundai Card's IPO is to give its financial investors (FI) the opportunity to cash out on their investments two years ago. In February 2017, Hong Kong-based private equity house Affinity Equity Partners purchased a 24 percent stake in Hyundai Card paying 374.7 billion won.

Deal value depends on the amount of existing shares that FIs will put up for sale and new shares that will be offered. Based on the enterprise valuation FIs estimated two years ago, the value of a sale of existing shares would amount to 370 billion won. Some view the deal value could amount to more than 500 billion won as FIs may want to up the enterprise valuation and the company could offer new shares.

Among securities firms at home, Shinhan Investment Corp. and KB Securities gain much attention. They originally didn't get RFPs from Hyundai Card. When the card company handed out RFPs on October 7, it sent them only to big three houses in the market - NH Investment & Securities, Mirae Asset Daewoo, and Korea Investment & Securities. It is said Shinhan Investment Corp. and KB Securities separately asked for the RFP after that.

Market watchers view that Hyundai Card sent out RFPs to big three houses in the first place not only because those three have proven track records but also they don't have issues of information leakage. If the houses are hired, there won't be any possibility that the information they might obtain during due diligence process would flow to competitors.

On the other hand, Shinhan Card, South Korea's top credit card company is an affiliate of Shinhan Investment Corp. Shinhan Card holds 21 percent market share as of the end of the second quarter. South Korea's third largest credit card company KB Kookmin Card is an affiliate of KB Securities with 17.2 percent market share. Hyundai Card is the fourth-largest credit card company with 15.6 percent market share.

Applications for IPO underwriter will be open until October 25. The credit card company will make a shortlist of preferred bidders and hold presentation process. Market watchers view it is highly likely the credit card company will hire more than one house. It will either be one domestic and one foreign firm or three to four houses if the deal size grows.

(By reporter Lee Kyung-joo)