Investment banks and broker-dealers that underwrote SK Hynix’s U.S. share offering earned nearly $260 million in fees, according to the company’s filings. Those fees amount to roughly 0.97% of the approximately $26.5 billion raised when the South Korean chipmaker priced its U.S. depository receipts at $149 each.
The fee rate on SK Hynix’s placement is higher as a percentage of proceeds than the fees reported by advisers on SpaceX’s record-setting public sale last month. SpaceX’s bankers received about $500 million, which equated to 0.67% of the $75 billion IPO, filings and public accounts show.
How fees broke down
Citigroup received in excess of $70 million from the SK Hynix transaction, a sum the company said was roughly 20% greater than what other banks on the deal earned, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter who declined to be identified when discussing confidential information. In the transaction, Citigroup served as a joint global coordinator and acted as the depository bank.
Other global coordinators on the listing included Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. A representative for Citigroup declined to comment on the fee amount. JPMorgan also declined to comment. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs did not respond to requests for comment.
Deal specifics and market context
SK Hynix’s U.S. listing raised about $26.5 billion after pricing its depository receipts at $149, which the filings note was 2.7% higher than the company’s average share price in Seoul over the prior three trading days. The fee percentage disclosed in SK Hynix’s filings - about 0.97% - reflects the ratio of total fees to the total capital raised.
By comparison, advisers on SpaceX’s initial public offering earned fees that amounted to 0.67% of the $75 billion in proceeds. That SpaceX offering was described in public accounts as eclipsing the prior record set by Saudi Aramco in 2019, as well as SK Hynix’s own U.S. listing this week.
Implications for banks and capital markets
The SK Hynix placement demonstrates that fee levels can vary materially between large equity offerings even when both deals rank among the largest public transactions. Firms positioned as joint global coordinators on sizable listings captured the largest fee shares in the SK Hynix sale, with Citigroup reported as the top earner among them.
Market participants and observers will note the absolute dollar sums involved and the differing fee percentages when assessing compensation practices across major equity transactions.