"It Hit 'Daetdaebul,' Then Fell 47% in a Week"... Why the IPO Market Has Frozen Solid
- Input
- 2026-08-27 10:41:03
- Updated
- 2026-08-27 10:41:03
[Financial News] As most newly listed companies in the second half of the year are trading below their offering prices, investor sentiment in the IPO market is cooling rapidly. Gido Industry saw its share price nearly cut in half just one week after listing on the KOSDAQ.
Average return for 11 new listings in the second half: -25%
According to the Korea Exchange on the 27th, the average return of 11 newly listed companies in the second half of this year, compared with their offering prices, stood at -25.61%.
Only two companies, Neoview and INGENIA Therapeutics, are trading above their offering prices. The remaining nine are trading below their IPO prices.
Gido Industry, which debuted at 28,400 won on the 21st, fell 11% on its first day of trading. By 10:50 a.m. on the 27th, it had dropped to 15,070 won, marking a 47% plunge in just five trading days.
Lemon Healthcare and HLGnomics also posted steep losses, falling by more than half from their offering prices.
Market correction weighs on IPOs... six companies hit 'daetdaebul' on debut in the first half
The weakness in IPO stocks is tied to the domestic stock market correction. In the first half of the year, a strong equity market drew investment funds into IPOs, but as the KOSPI and KOSDAQ fell sharply in the second half, selling pressure on newly listed stocks intensified.
The mood is very different from the first half. Starting with Esteem in March, six companies — AXVIS, IMBiologics, Cosmo Robotics, Poled, and MakinaRocks — surged to the daily upper limit on their first trading day, recording a so-called 'daetdaebul,' or a fourfold jump from the offering price.
The opposite is happening in the second half. As more companies have opened below their offering prices on the first day of trading, sentiment in the IPO market has weakened.
Institutional demand has also softened. SkyLabs, which conducted its book-building process from the 14th to the 21st, set its offering price at 10,000 won, below the lower end of its desired range of 13,000 to 16,000 won. The institutional competition ratio came in at just 63.41 to 1, and the mandatory lock-up commitment rate was only 0.17%.
Experts said the domestic market correction and weakening investor sentiment have led to the poor performance of IPO stocks. Still, some believe sentiment could recover if the stock market stabilizes and IPO system reforms move forward together.
[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter