LG Energy Solution, the battery maker that raised billions in Korea’s largest float ever, soared on its debut on the 27th January 2022, benefiting from the electric vehicle boom.

The stock closed at 505,000 won on the Korea Exchange, 68% above its initial public offering price of 300,000 won. LG Energy Solution currently has a market capitalization of 118 trillion won (about $98 billion), making it the second-largest listed company in Korea, after Samsung Electronics.

LG Energy Solution raised 12.75 trillion won ($10.7 billion) in its float, more than double the previous record set in 2010 by Samsung Life Insurance. The Seoul-based company says it plans to use the majority of the proceeds to expand production capacity to keep pace with rising demand for electric vehicles. LG Energy Solution said it made $10.5 billion in revenue in 2020, and expects to make $27.2 billion by 2024.

The company supplies the likes of Tesla, General Motors and Hyundai. LG Energy Solution also makes batteries for laptops, smartphones and smartwatches. The company said in its prospectus that it’s the second-largest EV battery maker in the world by market share, with a 21.2% chunk of the market as of October. The world’s largest EV battery maker is CATL, founded by Chinese billionaire Robin Zeng.

LG Energy Solution was spun off from LG Chem in December 2020. LG Chem is the flagship affiliate of Korean billionaire Koo Kwang-mo’s LG Corp., one of the four largest family-controlled conglomerates in Korea. Koo, 44, took over the reins of the LG group after the death of his father and former chairman, Koo Bon-Moo, in 2018.

Other billionaires around the world ​​have also seen their fortunes soar amid the electric vehicle boom driven by tougher auto-emissions regulations globally. Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person.