Cuckoo eyes $172 mn IPO of Malaysian unit in Kuala Lumpur: Bloomberg

South Korea’s leading rice cooker and small appliance maker Cuckoo Holdings Co. is said to be seeking to list its Malaysian unit in the Southeast Asian country to raise as much as 750 million ringgit ($172 million), Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

The foreign media outlet said Cuckoo filed an initial public offering (IPO) prospectus of Cuckoo International (Mal) Sdn. with Malaysia's securities authorities last week to sell about 222 million existing shares and 143 million new shares.

The Korean appliance maker is eyeing the IPO of Cuckoo International as early as next year, which could value the Malaysian unit at as much as 3 billion ringgit, according to the report.

Its underwriters are RHB Investment Bank Bhd. and AmInvestment Bank Bhd.

People familiar with the matter who refused to be identified warned, however, that the details of the planned IPO like size and timing are subject to change, reported Bloomberg.

CUCKOO, UNRIVALED RICE COOKER MAKER AT HOME

Cuckoo International was set up in Kuala Lumpur in 2014 to sell the Korean appliance maker’s rice cookers and water purifiers in Southeast Asia.   

Cuckoo Holdings also operates in other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, as well as in India, China and the US.

Founded in 1978, Cuckoo commands the lion’s share of some 70% of the Korean rice cooker market and boasts a strong presence in Southeast Asia.

But with the Korean rice cooker market having hit its peak with annual sales of 3 million units, Cuckoo’s rice cooker sales have plateaued at home, leading the company to find fresh revenue sources such as overseas markets.

Sales of the company’s mainstay IH, or induction heating, pressure cookers dropped to 336.7 billion won ($243.3 million) in 2023 from 339.3 billion won in 2022, according to the company’s filing.

Cuckoo Holdings owns a home appliance manufacturing unit Cuckoo Electronics Co. and a rental business unit Cuckoo Homesys Co.

Cuckoo Holdings’ shares shed 2.2% to close at 23,950 won on Wednesday, wiping away a 1.9% gain in the previous session.

OCI MALAYSIAN UNIT ALSO EYES AN IPO IN KUALA LUMPUR

Bloomberg also reported that OCI Holdings Co.'s wholly owned Malaysian subsidiary OCIM Sdn. Bhd. is mulling going public in Kuala Lumpur.

The leading Korean chemical and green energy companyl announced in April a plan to invest 850 billion won in its polysilicon factory in Sarawak, Malaysia, by 2027 to ramp up OCIM’s capacity of solar-grade polysilicon to 56,000 tons a year from the current 35,000 tons as part of efforts to beat its Chinese rivals and expand its product portfolio.

OCI Holdings shares slid 0.4% to close at 67,500 won on Tuesday.

Write to Jong-Hwan Won at won0403@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.