Lunit (328130.KQ), a medical artificial intelligence (AI) company, said Thursday that its ongoing 211.5 billion won ($148 million) rights offering recorded a 104.7% subscription rate from existing shareholders.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, a total of 8,278,502 shares were subscribed during the two-day existing-shareholder subscription period on April 22-23, exceeding the 7,906,816 shares planned for issuance. The allotted volume was fully absorbed and additional oversubscription poured in, which is interpreted as existing shareholders expressing confidence in Lunit's growth strategy.
The successful subscription is seen as the result of the company's active investor outreach and shareholder communication efforts over roughly three months since the rights offering was announced in January. The company explained that a key factor was the investment of 30 billion won by Atinum Investment, one of Korea's top venture capital firms, through means including the acquisition of preemptive rights from Lunit's management, which validated the company's growth value from an institutional investor perspective.
Through this rights offering, Lunit has secured a foundation to structurally resolve major financial risks, including the put option risk on convertible bonds (CBs) issued in May 2024 to acquire Volpara (now Lunit International) and concerns over designation as an administrative issue due to pre-tax losses. The funds raised will be used to improve the financial structure as well as to expand global business and strengthen product competitiveness, supporting the company's mid- to long-term growth strategy.
"We deeply thank our shareholders who believed in Lunit's vision and growth potential and actively participated despite the difficult market environment," Lunit CEO Seo Beom-seok said. "Based on the financial stability secured through this rights offering, we will certainly achieve positive EBITDA by the end of this year and do our utmost to enhance shareholder value as a company leading the global medical AI market."
Meanwhile, Korea Investment & Securities is the lead underwriter for this rights offering, with the payment date set for April 30 and the new shares scheduled to be listed on May 15. Lunit also plans to carry out a bonus share issue allocating one new share per common share after the rights offering is completed.
