The number of initial public offerings rose from a year earlier in 2023 amid signs of easing economic woes, data showed.

A total of 82 companies made their debuts on the main Korea Composite Stock Price Index and the tech-heavy Kosdaq markets last year, up from 70 companies going public in 2022, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

However, the amount of funds raised from IPOs dropped sharply to 3.3 trillion won ($2.48 billion) from 15.6 trillion won over the cited period.

The FSS said the drop was due to the lack of any major IPO worth more than 1 trillion won last year, noting what it called a single “mega IPO” in 2022 - LG Energy Solution - had alone raised 12.7 trillion won.

The competition ratio for IPO stocks came to 925 to 1 in 2023, up from 836 to 1 the year before, while the prices of newly listed stocks closed 72 percent higher on average on the first day of their trading. (Yonhap)