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The IPO of Big Hit Entertainment will make multimilionaires of the seven BTS members, who were given shares ahead of the label’s listing, and fans of the K-pop band want a piece of the action too –not to get rich, but as keepsakes or entry tickets to shareholders’ meetings where the band might be present. Photo: AFP
LifestyleEntertainment

BTS fans gripped by hot IPO of band’s music label Big Hit Entertainment, all hoping to secure at least one share

  • Fans of the Billboard chart-topping K-pop group are putting in bids, some of them big, for a stake in the IPO of BTS’ music label, Big Hit Entertainment
  • They know they will be lucky to bag even one share apiece given how oversubscribed the listing is, but want them to complete their memorabilia collections
K-pop, Mandopop and other Asian pop
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Kim Eun-hee wants to complete her collection of memorabilia of South Korean boy band BTS by bidding more than US$120,000 to buy shares in the group’s music label Big Hit Entertainment – South Korea’s hottest IPO.

Fervour is building among South Korean BTS fans to secure at least one share of the K-pop band’s label with orders for next month’s listing having opened this week.

“I’m adding my support to BTS by buying shares – it will add to my collection,” the 51 year-old said in the BTS-themed cafe she runs in Seoul, which is filled with BTS merchandise.

Big Hit Entertainment is betting that going public will be a smash hit riding on the success of the seven-member band, which has become the first South Korean group to reach No 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with their recent single Dynamite .

There is already an insatiable demand for new share listings from South Korean retail investors – known as “ants” – because government stimulus efforts to bolster the economy after the coronavirus crisis have flooded markets with cash.

Analysts predict Big Hit will take the crown as South Korea’s hottest initial public offering (IPO), one that the central bank is watching closely as a massive oversubscription for shares could send ripples through short-term money markets.

“Gross bids from retail investors could hit 100 trillion won (US$85.23 billion) – it’s the biggest fish of the year,” said Hwang Hyun-jun, an analyst at DB Financial Investment.

BTS debut at No 1 on US Billboard charts with Dynamite

Big Hit is looking to raise as much as 962.6 billion won in the IPO, which is set to be South Korea’s largest in three years. The offering of about 7.1 million new shares is currently pegged at 105,000-135,000 (US$89-114) won per share.

The final price may be announced early next week, but the stock’s valuation is less of an issue for Kim and other member of the BTS fan club – known as Army.
The Big Hit listing is also expected to make the seven BTS members multimillionaires.

Kim and four other fans bidding for shares said they would be lucky to pick up just one share – even if they’ve placed bids for tens of thousands of dollars’ worth – because of the expected strong retail demand.

The Big Hit listing is also expected to make the seven BTS members multimillionaires, as CEO Bang Si-hyuk in August gave them 68,385 shares each.

Some BTS fans plan to buy Big Hit shares on the band members’ birthdays or other anniversaries.

“I can see myself buying one on V’s birthday,” said Alice Park, referring to one of the band members. Park, a 28-year old banker, is taking out a personal loan of “a couple of hundred grand” to make a bid.

BTS groove to patriotic Indian song in video mash-up

Fans buying shares of the music labels that own their favourite K-pop band is not a new thing. In 2008, a fan of all-female group Girls Generation bought shares in their label SM Entertainment for 22.5 million won and watched them rise more than 2,700 per cent in three years.

Kim Seo-hyeon, a 12-year old BTS fan in Seoul, has asked her parents to buy her one share so she could meet the members of the band at a future shareholders’ meeting.

“I don’t know about stock valuations. I know my oppas [a Korean term that literally means “older brother of a female person” but doesn’t have mean someone blood-related] are rich, but I hope that me buying shares makes them even richer, so that they can buy something nice to wear. That would make me happy.”

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