Mirae Corp hopes to become the first South Korean company to be traded on Nasdaq. The semiconductor equipment maker plans to issue American depository receipts valued at $100m to $115m later this month. A handful of large Korean companies, including Pohang Iron and Steel Corp, Korea Electric Power Corp and Korea Telecom are already listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Now high-tech players such as Mirae, Hanaro Telecom and Thrunet, are considering Nasdaq listings.
Mirae said it plans to launch an international road show in the middle of this month and will determine the pricing of the issue after the road show. We are currently awaiting a final decision from the US Securities and Exchange Commission on our plan to list on the Nasdaq, said a company official, but considering our sound balance sheet, we can forsee no problems. Mirae, which recently went into an internet portal joint venture with Lycos Inc, said it plans to use the proceeds from the ADR issue for capital investment and research and development.
