Yongpyong Resort, running the oldest and largest ski slopes in Korea that hosted a number of international competitions and seeks to become the first in local resort industry to go public on the country`s main Kospi bourse next month, pledges to raise revenue to 300 billion won ($260 million) by 2020, its chief executive said.

The company, owned by the Unification Church and companies related to the church, reported a profit of 26.4 billion won on revenue of 176.3 billion won last year from running a complex of ski and golf resorts and a water park in PyeongChang-gun, Gangwon Province.

It will boost revenue by upping efforts to draw Chinese and Southeast Asian tourists to its ski and golf resorts and open an amusement park to raise its value, Jeong Chang-joo, 62, president of Yongpyong Resort, told the Maeil Business Newspaper on Thursday. The company runs on steady year-around revenue from two golf clubs, a water park, and rented-out condominiums in the ski mountain region.

Nestled in PyeongChang-gun, Gangwon Province, as the country’s first ski resort that opened in 1975 currently runs 28 slopes including five with international accredited standards. It hosted the Alpine Skiing World Cup four times and also is the venue for four Alpine games in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Its operating profit and revenue jumped 53 percent and 32 percent, respectively, after selling units and membership of its new high-end condominiums.

Its initial public offering for 16.72 million shares led by KDB Daewoo Securities Co. will be available for retail investors on May 17 and 18 to go listed in late May. Its desired bid price is between 8,100 won and 9,200 won per share. The company expects it could secure at least 120 billion won from the IPO.

“Some of the fund would be injected in the construction of Olympic Village for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics and renovation of a youth hostel as well as new ventures like a theme park,” said the president. The company hopes to develop about 1.7 million square meters near the resort.

The company and its underwriter would go on an IR tour in Hong Kong and Singapore next month and open an overseas office to draw more Chinese and Southeast Asian tourists.

By Song Gwang-sup

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