KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — JPMorgan, NH Investment and Securities and others have been chosen by Big Hit Entertainment, the music label of South Korean boyband BTS, to handle its initial public offering (IPO) on Korea Exchange.
The IPO could be one of the largest in years in the country's entertainment industry, with its total valuation expected to be as high as 6 trillion won (RM20 billion) reported Reuters.
Quoting sources, it said Big Hit Entertainment had chosen three brokerage firms — NH Investment & Securities, Korea Investment & Securities and Mirae Asset Daewoo — for the IPO.
Founded in 2005, Big Hit Entertainment has helped BTS score megahits globally and sell out stadiums.
The seven member group performed at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles last month after breaking into the US market in 2017 and was the first Korean group to win a Billboard music award.
BTS, which just released its new album Map Of The Soul: 7, is set to launch a new world tour in April.
Some analysts said with BTS popularity skyrocketing, the timing was right for Big Hit Entertainment to offer its IPO but others were sceptical with the move.
“The band members, who are in their 20s, must enlist for compulsory military service in a few years,” said Yoo Sung-man, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities told Reuters.
“Big Hit Entertainment's 'valuable assets' in their prime will be out of business for a while in the foreseeable future.”
Meanwhile, Korean portal bbangya news reported that Big Hit Entertainment could enter the stock market as early as this year.
Earlier this month, Big Hit Entertainment had announced that the company had recorded 587.8 billion won sales with operating profit of 95.5 billion won.
