Taiwan Steel Union Co Ltd (鋼聯), which manufactures and sells zinc oxide, yesterday said in a filing that it has set its initial public offering (IPO) price at NT$86 per share.
That would give the company a valuation of NT$974 million (US$32.96 million) when it makes its debut on the main board by the end of this month, given its issuance of nearly 11.33 million new shares, company data showed.
The company has issued 7.7 million shares by auction and 1.93 million shares by public offering, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
The IPO shares by auction were successfully traded yesterday, with the highest winning bid of NT$119.6 per share, the TWSE said, adding that the subscription period for the public is to start tomorrow and run through Monday next week.
DUST RECYCLING GIANT
Taiwan Steel Union, a joint venture founded in 1995 by the nation’s 12 steelmakers, collects valuable zinc in electric arc furnace (EAF) dust generated by steel manufacturing processes.
Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corp (東和鋼鐵) is the biggest stakeholder in Taiwan Steel Union with a 24.84 percent share, while Feng Hsin Steel Co (豐興鋼鐵) ranks second with a 22.01 percent stake.
Asia’s largest EAF dust recycling company, Changhua County-based Taiwan Steel Union is capable of processing 198,900 tonnes of EAF dust per year through its two sets of equipment.
RISING PROFIT
In the first three quarters of last year, Taiwan Steel Union’s net profit jumped 59.5 percent year-on-year from NT$301.63 million to NT$481.2 million, with earnings per share rising to NT$4.81, compared with NT$3.02 a year earlier, company data showed.
Sales over the period increased 25.35 percent annually from NT$1 billion to NT$1.25 billion, while gross margin rose 7.45 percentage points to 59.41 percent, the data showed.
The company attributed the significant improvement of its bottom line to a nearly 20 percent annual increase in global zinc prices last year, which caused a broadening spread between revenue and costs.
‘GREEN’ OPPORTUNITIES
At a pre-IPO presentation last month, company officials provided a bright outlook for the company’s operations over the next few years, as it has been developing other “green” businesses to sustain growth.
Taiwan Steel Union would continue to explore opportunities in the growing markets of industrial waste recycling, including heavy metal-contaminated soil and steelmaking slag, said chairman Mark Lin (林明儒), who is also the owner of Feng Hsin.
A new NT$1.7 billion plant to recycle steelmaking slag is scheduled to begin operations in the fourth quarter of this year, Taiwan Steel Union said.
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