Seoul (AFP)

K-pop kings music label BTS made a triumphant entry on the South Korean Stock Exchange on Thursday, where its track nearly doubled in value, instantly turning its boss into a billionaire and swelling the septet's fortunes.

This success was expected, since the tranche of shares offered to ordinary investors - as opposed to institutional investors - had been oversubscribed more than 600 times before the first listing on Thursday.

BTS (short for Bangtan Sonyeondan, which stands for "bulletproof boy scouts") is currently one of the biggest musical phenomena in the world and generates billions of dollars in revenue for the South Korean economy.

The group once again established its position in the world's leading music market in August when its new hit "Dynamite" hit the top of the charts in the United States upon its release.

But within minutes of listing on Thursday, the stock had already reached its maximum allowable daily value of 351,000 won.

- "A coat for winter" -

The stock subsequently fell to end the day at 258,000 won.

The label nonetheless reached a market capitalization of 8.7 trillion won (6.5 billion euros), placing the company in the group of the 40 biggest valuations in South Korea.

Big Hit founder and chairman Bang Si-hyuk, who retains a more than 36% stake in the company, was $ 3.3 billion at the stock's highest, according to Bloomberg News.

At an event held for the start of listing, he thanked "all the fans who have always loved and believed in the artists and productions of Big Hit" and "our remarkable artists of whom we are so proud".

The IPO is also doing business for all seven of BTS, with Bang Si-hyuk giving each of them more than 68,000 shares in August, or 1.4% of the company, worth around 17 million dollars. 'euros at the highest price.

"Taking into account all the information now available on the company, the IPO price may be the lowest price we will ever see," Park Sung-ho of Yuanta told AFP. Securities.

Some shareholders have decided to take their profits straight away.

"I had received two shares that I sold. With 260,000 won (193 euros) in profit, I will buy myself a coat for the winter," said a user on Naver, South Korea's leading internet portal.

Others worried about a bubble doomed to deflate: "It rises quickly, and it will fall quickly quickly", predicted a user.

- The army as an obstacle -

All the more so as the future holds in the short term an obstacle that is a priori unavoidable for Big Hit: the military service that the seven members of the Boys Band created in 2013 will have to perform.

Any able man must indeed generally spend 18 months in the army, in a country facing the North Korean threat.

Thus Kim Seok-jin, 27, whose stage name is Jin, will have to start his service at the end of 2021 under the current rules. Born between 1993 and 1997, the other six will be called up in the years that follow.

The debate is currently raging on whether stars like BTS should not benefit from exemptions because of their role in the cultural influence of South Korea, let alone their economic impact.

But no K-pop star has ever been reformed for this reason.

The inability of BTS to ensure its concerts would constitute a setback for the finances of Big Hit, which drew 97% of its turnover from the group last year, according to documents made public at the time of the IPO.

The tube "Dynamite" alone could generate more than $ 1.4 billion for the South Korean economy and thousands of new jobs, according to a government study released in September.

Big Hit acknowledged that the scheduled absence of BTS members was a "risk."

But the label relies on the sale of products that do not involve the direct participation of the seven to take the shock.

He conceded, however, that the time the Seven spend out of the limelight and away from the cameras "could have a negative impact on the profitability and growth of the company."

© 2020 AFP