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Sebitchem, a battery recycling company which originally focused on waste water treatment and recycling of liquid waste is expected to file for an IPO on the South Korean stock market KOSDAQ in the coming months. Sebitchem started to process waste batteries in 2016. Working with Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources the company invested 2 billion won ($1.6M) in a process which produces a nickel cobalt manganese sulphate solution and lithium carbonate which is sold to precursor producers.
For the IPO the company is expected to promote itself as a battery recycler as this is where the growth is. Since the launch of the battery recycling in 2016 the company has more than doubled its revenues to 33.4 billion won ($27M) in 2021 with net earnings of 4.4 billion won ($3.5M). In Korean media investment banks are estimating a market capitalization of around 100 billion won ($80M) equating to 22 times earnings or 3 times the revenues.
Sebitchem will be the second battery recycler to list on KOSDAQ this year as the signficantly larger player, Sungeel Hitech, is expected to file for an IPO in July. Sungeel Hitech with pre-processing plants in South Korea, China, Malaysia, India and Hungary and two hydrometallurgical plants in South Korea is according to analysts expected to get a market cap of around 600 billion won ($483M). Revenues in 2021 amounted to 147.25 billion won ($119M), an 123% increase YoY, with net earnings of 16.8 billion won ($13.5M) equating to 29 times earnings or 4 times the revenues.
Sebitchem is profiled on CES Online here and Sungeel Hitech here.
We are currently doing a deeper analysis of the global battery recycling market with focus on capacity and feedstock. Expected to be published on CES Online in the middle of May.