Bionote said Monday that it confirmed the final public offering price at 9,000 won ($6.90) due to demand forecast from institutional investors from last Thursday to Friday.

While the company initially planned to offer 13 million depository receipts at the offering price range of 18,000 won to 22,000 won per share to raise a maximum of 286 billion won, it lowered the public offering price to 12,000 won before the demand forecast. It reduced the number of depository receipts offered to encourage institutional investors to participate.

However, though 237 domestic and foreign institutions participated in the demand forecast for Bionote, the competition rate was only 3.3 to 1, the lowest among companies that have gone public this year.

Also, with 225 of the participating institutions submitting an offering price below the lower end of the desired price, the company's final public offering price was set at 9,000 won.

As a result, the market capitalization of Bionote, based on the public offering price, fell significantly to 917 billion won from the initially expected market capitalization range of 1.87 trillion to 2.28 trillion won when the company suggested an offering price range of 18,000 won to 22,000 won per share.

According to investors, many institutional bidders did not recognize the corporate value measured by Bionote and set a lower corporate value in line with the market concerns previously raised.

Investors repeatedly questioned the valuation set by Bionote, which had rapidly increased its value during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bionote is a typical Covid-19 pandemic beneficiary.

With sales of the company increasing rapidly due to Covid-19 diagnostic kits, the corporate value also increased. However, as various countries recently announced that they should transit to an endemic stage, there have been concerns that Bionote's sales may plummet.

Such concerns have already become a reality as the cumulative sale through the third quarter of this year was 456.9 billion won, down 14.2 percent from last year.

Notably, investors also expressed concerns that 80 percent of Bionote's sales are still related to its Covid-19 sales with its affiliate SD Biosensor. The excessive dependence on SD Biosensor for sales raised doubts among investors about whether Bionote's exponential growth was due to trading among affiliates.

Some in the market also criticized Cho Young-sik, chairman of SD Biosensor and the largest shareholder of Bionote with a 52.4 percent equity stake, for undermining the stock's reliability due to his large stake in the company.

Despite the negative market reaction, Bionote plans to reduce the number of public offering shares by 20 percent, proceed with general subscription from Tuesday to Wednesday, and go public on the Kospi market on Dec. 22.

CEO Cho Byung-ki said that the company views the IPO as a success.

"We could complete the IPO, considered the largest public offering stock in the second half-year," Cho said. "Based on the brand, external credit rating, and recruitment of excellent talent after listing, we will further accelerate the global business and share the results of our growth with investors."