S.Korea's Doosan Bobcat plans IPO on North America housing market hopes (updated)

HD Hyundai Infracore Co

23/02/2016 03:32

* IPO set for Seoul this year, no details on pricing 
    * 2015 stake sale valued company at more than $2 bln 
-analysts 
    * Parent Doosan Infracore plans to cut debt 
    * Doosan Bobcat pft up 20 pct, helped by N. America housing 
 
 (Adds estimated valuation, earnings details) 
    SEOUL, Feb 23 (Reuters) - South Korea's Doosan Bobcat Inc, 
the firm that controls U.S. construction machinery maker Bobcat, 
plans to sell shares in a Seoul initial public offering this 
year that could value Doosan Bobcat as a whole at more than $2 
billion.  
    The plan to list shares in the arm of Doosan Group, one of 
South Korea's biggest conglomerates, comes as Doosan Bobcat 
seeks to tap into growth in the North American housing market. 
Proceeds from the sale of shares, owned by an already listed 
Doosan affiliate, will go toward cutting the latter's debt. 
    Analysts said Doosan Bobcat could have an estimated value of 
about 2.7 trillion won ($2.19 billion), according to the terms 
of a private issue of shares last year that raised about 700 
billion won in a early step towards the IPO. Top shareholder 
Doosan Infracore Co Ltd  042670.KS  has a 75.5 percent stake in 
Doosan Bobcat.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N0WL1B8 
    Doosan Infracore didn't say on Tuesday how much it might aim 
to raise in the IPO, nor exactly when it might take place.  
    In a statement announcing the IPO plan, Doosan Infracore 
said Doosan Bobcat chose South Korea as listing venue due to 
expectations about lower listing costs, ease of attracting 
investment and because Doosan Bobcat is based in Korea. It said 
favourable conditions in the North American housing construction 
market accelerated the listing plan. 
    Shares in Doosan Infracore rose as much as 9.4 percent 
before paring gains to rise 5.1 percent as of 0309 GMT, compared 
to a 0.2 percent fall in the wider market  .KS11 .   
    Doosan Infracore said Doosan Bobcat's 2015 operating profit 
grew 20 percent to 385.6 billion won from a year earlier, on 
revenue of 4.04 trillion won. 
    Acquired by Doosan Group in 2007 for $4.9 billion, Bobcat's 
focus on smaller machinery used to build houses sets it apart 
from firms like the world's largest construction equipment maker 
Caterpillar  CAT.N , as well as parent Doosan Infracore, that 
were hit by slower growth in big markets for industrial 
construction projects like China.  
    In another fund-raising move announced earlier this month, 
Doosan Infracore said it was in talks to sell its machine tools 
business to private equity firm MBK Partners. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N0ZH02V 
 
($1 = 1,230.4000 won) 
     
 
 (Reporting by Se Young Lee and Joyce Lee; Editing by Stephen 
Coates and Kenneth Maxwell) 
 ((vincentsy.lee@thomsonreuters.com; +822 3704 5646; Reuters 
Messaging: vincentsy.lee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; follow 
me on Twitter @Rover829)) 
 
Keywords: DOOSAN INFRACORE DOOSAN BOBCAT/IPO