The ADR listing price for Hynix has been set at $149.
What's surprising is that a premium was attached, not a discount allocation. It seems that over $200 billion was poured into this offering.
Therefore, the underwriters were able to select institutions that could help the stock price, mainly global sovereign wealth funds, long-term investment funds, and technology sector specialized funds - hedge funds with a strong short-term trading tendency were thoroughly excluded.
I asked an AI about the reason why Morgan Stanley was excluded from this underwriting selection, and it seems that this is not just a rumor (let's take it as a joke).
As SK Hynix prepared for this record-breaking $40 trillion ADR listing, JP Morgan, Bank of America (BofA), Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup formed the underwriting syndicate, thoroughly excluding Morgan Stanley. This is considered a natural course of action in the industry. There are three decisive reasons behind this.
1. You can't give the '40 trillion won contract' to a house that cuts stock prices (the most decisive reason) - The core mission of IB underwriters is sales. They need to find global giant institutional investors and persuade them, "Hynix is truly the best AI semiconductor company, so you must buy this IPO stock" (Equity Story marketing). However, Morgan Stanley's research center has inflicted fatal wounds on Hynix in the past by being the starting point of the 'semiconductor winter theory'. Starting with the 'Winter is coming' report in 2021, and even as recently as 2024 when it was near its peak, it halved the target price, causing a plunge in domestic semiconductor stock prices. In fact, just this week (July 8th), Morgan Stanley issued a blatant bearish warning report stating, "Reduce your memory semiconductor holdings" and that "SK Hynix's ADR supply volume will further push down the price this week". From the issuer Hynix's perspective, there is no reason to entrust hundreds of billions of won in fees (the total underwriting fee for this syndicate is estimated at around 2 trillion won) to a house that pours cold water on its IPO and openly suppresses the stock price.
2. Japan's capital background (MUFG) and the subtle currents of semiconductor hegemony - Looking at Morgan Stanley's ownership structure, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan's largest financial group, holds a stake of over 20%, making it the single largest shareholder. When Morgan Stanley faced a default crisis in 2008, Mitsubishi provided funding to help them through the crisis, establishing a strong strategic partnership. The semiconductor market is currently a national competition. Japan is dreaming of a semiconductor revival by fully supporting 'Rapidus' at the government level and aggressively pursuing the Korean semiconductor ecosystem by attracting TSMC factories to its territory. Even if Morgan Stanley's New York headquarters claims to operate independently, from the perspective of Hynix's board of directors, entrusting the key to Hynix's Nasdaq debut, which holds the fate of Korean memory semiconductors, to a financial institution with a Japanese capital giant behind it was structurally very uncomfortable.
3. There are plenty of alternatives on Wall Street - Wall Street is overflowing with substitutes. JP Morgan, who took the lead this time, lit up the entire exterior wall of its Manhattan headquarters building with a giant Taegeukgi to celebrate Hynix's Nasdaq listing. With IBs lining up to recognize corporate value and treat it as a national deal, including Morgan Stanley in the underwriting syndicate would have been an unusual choice.
It looks like there will be something interesting to watch tonight on the US market.
