KOSDAQ Delisting Rules Tighten, Driving Defensive M&A Surge

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an 'AI-based customized news recommendation and summary service' developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It provides six curated news items tailored to each reader type.

1. Elice Group Targets 1 Trillion Won Valuation, Aims for KOSDAQ Listing as Early as This Month

- Key Summary: Elice Group, which started as an AI-based coding and education service company, has pivoted to supporting Portable Modular Data Center (PMDC) construction and has tentatively set mid-November as its target for submitting a KOSDAQ listing preliminary review application to the Korea Exchange. Mirae Asset Securities (006800) is the lead underwriter, with Samsung Securities (016360) as co-underwriter. In April this year, the company attracted strategic investment from Dongkuk Holdings and GS Ventures, earning a valuation approaching 1 trillion won. Market analysts view it as a strong candidate to be the first KOSDAQ listing valued at over 1 trillion won since Livsmed (491000) (1.3564 trillion won), which listed last December. The company has secured global partners including NVIDIA DLI (Deep Learning Institute) and Dell Technologies, and demonstrated profitability with consolidated net profit of 15.7 billion won last year.

2. UK's OakNorth, Using AI, Expands Loans While CIR Drops

- Key Summary: OakNorth, a UK digital specialty bank, has simultaneously achieved loan expansion and cost reduction through its AI-based credit analysis platform ONCI (OakNorth Credit Intelligence). New loan origination last year reached 28 billion pounds, up 33% from the previous year, while the Cost-to-Income Ratio (CIR, an indicator of efficiency of revenue relative to costs) fell 3 percentage points from 29% to 26%. ONCI moves beyond the traditional review approach centered on historical financial data, analyzing forward-looking data including industry-specific scenarios, AI-driven sectoral impacts, and climate risks to calculate default probability and Forward Look Rating (FLR) for each borrower. Meanwhile, OakNorth signed a strategic partnership with OpenAI last May, improving operational efficiency through the adoption of multiple AI agents, and has maintained a cumulative principal loss rate of 0.045% over the decade since its founding, sustaining virtually loss-free soundness.

3. Tighter KOSDAQ Delisting Requirements Drive 'Defensive M&A' Among SMEs

- Key Summary: The government raised the KOSDAQ market capitalization delisting threshold from 15 billion won to 20 billion won starting in July, and will phase in an increase of the revenue threshold from the current 3 billion won to 10 billion won by 2029, expanding demand for defensive M&A among listed SMEs. The number of companies delisted from KOSDAQ jumped from 8 in 2023 to 38 in 2025, and inquiries seeking companies with immediate revenue streams are increasing. Biotech firm SillaJen (215600) acquired IV fluid specialist Woosung Pharmaceutical for approximately 12.5 billion won last year, boosting consolidated revenue 135% year-on-year, while English education firm Gold & S (035290) saw first-quarter revenue rise 248% this year after acquiring Siwonschool. However, the industry has raised concerns about "zombification," where uncompetitive companies remain in the market if acquisitions focused solely on scale expansion without business synergies continue.

4. Study Abroad Platform by Foreigners, Traditional Liquor Cultural Space: 'Startup for All' Names First 130 Winners

- Key Summary: The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) selected the first 130 successful applicants through the fast-track review of its national startup audition, 'Startup for All.' The selection included 102 in general and technology categories and 28 in local categories, with 44 applicants (33.8% of the total) incorporating AI technology into their startup ideas. By age, youth under 39 accounted for 83 (63.8%), and 94 entrepreneurs (72.3% of the total) applied through incubation institutions outside the Seoul metropolitan area. Among the selected were diverse ideas including sinkhole early-detection technology using vehicle driving data, a local cultural complex combining independent bookstores and breweries, and a platform by foreign entrepreneurs supporting non-English-speaking students studying in Korea.

5. Hyundai Motor Signs AAM Agreement with KAI, Accelerating Korean Air Taxi Development

- Key Summary: Hyundai Motor Group signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) for the joint development of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM, urban and regional aerial transportation) aircraft. Under the arrangement, Hyundai Motor's Supernal and KAI will jointly design vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, while Hyundai and Kia's Aviation Powertrain Division will commercialize an aviation electric powertrain under development. Notably, the two companies will jointly leverage the aviation certification experience KAI has accumulated through the development of domestic aircraft such as the T-50, KF-21, and Surion to navigate global certification procedures, the biggest hurdle to AAM commercialization. Meanwhile, Supernal had a leadership vacuum following the simultaneous resignations of its CEO and CTO last September, but is accelerating business rebuilding by appointing Farhan Gandhi, a distinguished professor of aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University and an authority on vertical takeoff and landing aerodynamics, as its new CTO on the 4th of this month.

6. At 'Enemy Territory' China Battery Expo, KOTRA Supports Overseas Expansion of Materials and Parts Firms

- Key Summary: KOTRA is arranging one-on-one business consultations between 13 Korean secondary battery materials, parts, and equipment (MPE) companies and 20 major Chinese battery firms in connection with the 'China International Battery Fair (CIBF) 2026,' the world's largest battery-specialized exhibition. The event will run from the 13th through the 19th of next month in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, with on-site consultations during the exhibition period followed by one month of online follow-up negotiations. Shenzhen, where the event is held, is a key Chinese hub concentrated with global battery firms such as BYD, Sunwoda, and Desay, and demand for diversification of high-quality MPE supply chains is rising as the electric vehicle and energy storage system (ESS) markets expand rapidly, centered on Guangdong Province. As a result, Korean firms with technology in solid-state batteries, cathode materials, and inspection equipment are increasingly likely to emerge as supply chain partners for Chinese battery companies.