Elice falls 32% on debut as data-centre IPO appetite weakens

Elice, a Seoul-based neocloud infrastructure company, dropped as much as 32% in its first session on the Kosdaq exchange on Tuesday, after pricing its shares at 90,500 won — the top of its marketed range — in South Korea's largest IPO of the year. The company raised 201 billion won, equivalent to $151 million, giving it a post-listing market capitalisation above 1 trillion won before the sell-off erased a third of that value.

The debut lands as a string of data-centre listings globally have either collapsed or been pulled. Firmus Grid cancelled its Sydney offering this month. Coreweave's shares have fallen more than 50% from their May peak. AirTrunk has delayed a planned REIT listing, and Nscale is facing resistance on its target valuation.

Elice priced at the ceiling of its range, which means the institutional book was full at that level. The 32% first-day drop tells you the retail clearing price was somewhere else entirely. The gap between what institutions would hold and what the open market would pay is the number that will follow this sector through the next round of listings.