Three U.S. and U.K. Investment Firms Express Interest in Acquiring Up to $7 Billion in SK Hynix ADRs

▲ SK Hynix

Three investment firms, including a U.S. hedge fund founded by a former OpenAI researcher, have indicated they may acquire up to $7 billion (approximately 10.7 trillion won) worth of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) in the upcoming public offering by SK Hynix, the Financial Times (FT) reported on July 6 (local time).

According to the FT, the three firms are U.S. hedge fund Situational Awareness, British asset manager Baillie Gifford, and U.S. venture capital firm Coatue.

This amount accounts for one-quarter of the total offering, which is valued at 43.14 trillion won ($28 billion).

Situational Awareness, founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, has drawn significant attention from individual investors for its pioneering investments in artificial intelligence (AI)-related stocks.

Baillie Gifford is known for its strength in growth stock investing, identifying innovative companies and holding them for the long term from an early stage, while Coatue is a venture capital firm famous for its aggressive investments in tech companies.

SK Hynix plans to issue 17.79 million new shares, representing approximately 2.5% of its outstanding shares, in the form of American Depositary Shares (ADS) and begin trading on the Nasdaq on July 10.

According to Reuters, Albert Yong, managing partner at Petra Capital Management, noted the recent market volatility but predicted that "demand for SK Hynix stock will be relatively robust."

On the other hand, Sundeep Gantori, head of equity strategy at Standard Chartered, expressed a cautious view, stating that while improved accessibility due to the U.S. listing is positive, "the timing of the memory cycle is just as important."

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, questioned whether the listing might be "a bit late," but told Bloomberg that "while memory semiconductor stocks have lost momentum in recent weeks, investors may view SK Hynix as a solid long-term growth story rather than a passing trend."

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