Doosan Bobcat Inc., U.S.-based compact construction equipment maker owned by South Korea’s Doosan Infracore Co., would go public on Nov. 18 in fewer issues and price less by 29 percent to 34 percent than originally planned as conditions in the local market turned unfavorably.

It rescheduled the initial public offering process that was pushed back earlier this month after preliminary book-building.

According to Doosan Infracore on Thursday, Doosan Bobcat is targeting to appear on the Korean stock exchange on November 18 after pricing on November 3 and 4. The shares will be offered to retail investors on November 8 and 9. The firm previously planned for IPO on October 21 with a plan of listing 49 percent of its total outstanding shares but it decided to cut the offering to 30,028,180 shares or 30 percent of the total. The price band has also been adjusted to between 29,000 won and 33,000 won apiece, significantly lowered from previous pricing band set between 41,000 won and 50,000 won apiece.

The company is offering 16.5 percent stake, all of which owned by outside investors, and 13.5 percent stake held by parent Doosan Group. Through the IPO, the group expects to raise funds between 390 billion won and 450 billion won. Doosan Group’s remaining Doosan Bobcat shares that are excluded from the upcoming IPO will be used as a fund raising source in the future, strengthening its financial capability, said an unnamed Doosan Group official.

Until recently, there had been concerns in the market over Doosan Group’s financial health after the Doosan Bobcat’s IPO plan was pushed back. Doosan Infracore has high debt ratio and is in urgent need to solve its liquidity woes and the deferred IPO could have taken toll on its credit standing. As of first half of this year, Doosan Infracore’s total debts amounted to 2.6 trillion won, of which short-term debts accounted for 67.6 percent.

By Yong Hwan-jin and Park Yun-gu

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