Venture capital firms TS Investment Corp. and DSC Investment Inc., newcomers to the secondary Kosdaq market, have seen five-fold or near four-fold jump from their debut prices in December on high expectations for a boon in industries related to the fourth industrial revolution due to promotion from the incoming administration.

On Friday, shares of TS Investment fell 0.82 percent to close at 6,080 won ($5.4) and DSC Investment gained 1 percent to finish at 9,120 won. From their IPO prices, TS is higher by 400 percent and DSC by 260 percent. Their market entry was the first IPO from the venture capital sector in 16 years in Korea.

Expectations for booming IT firms in the fourth industrial revolution are behind their rally after presidential candidates all promised to realign the industry in tune with the new industrial revolution that would apply greater automation and computing to everyday lives and industrial activities.

Another factor is the growth of secondary funds that channel money into venture capital firms, said Yoon Ju-ho, an analyst at Yuanta Securities.

DPC, another venture capital firm listed on the main Kospi, is drawing attention from investors for its relatively smaller market cap despite its large business size versus the two Kosdaq members. DPC posted 139.8 billion won in sales last year, with an operating profit of 16.2 billion won, but is capitalized at 169.8 billion won in the main market. In contrast, TS Investment’s market cap is about 136.5 billion won with an operating profit of 1.3 billion won over sales of 4 billion won last year. DSC Investment’s market cap is about 158.2 billion won with an operating profit of 1.4 billion won over sales of 4.3 billion won. In terms of price-earnings ratio (PER) multiple, DPC is just 11 times versus 90 times of DSC Investment and 33 times of TS Investment.

By Yoo Tae-yang

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]