Samyoung ENC "Low Possibility of Speculative Capital Taking Control of Management Rights"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Samyoung ENC recently clarified claims from minority shareholders alleging attempts by speculative capital to seize management control.

Samyoung ENC stated on the 27th that the investors in the 10 billion KRW convertible bonds issued in January this year are funds established to revitalize the domestic shipbuilding market.

BK Shipbuilding Investment Association and Now Ace Partnership Fund acquired the convertible bonds. These funds are managed by BK Investment and Now IB Capital respectively, and were formed with capital contributions from funds established in 2017 based on Korea Venture Investment Corp (the mother fund operator) to activate the domestic shipbuilding market.

A company official explained, "The combined shares of the largest shareholder and related parties exceed 36% of the total issued shares," adding, "The possibility of a management control threat that shareholders are concerned about is extremely low."

Furthermore, the official said, "The call option rights to acquire 60% of the convertible bonds will be determined by the board of directors in the future," and added, "We believe that situations that could negatively affect management control will not be chosen."

Earlier, minority shareholders of Samyoung ENC held a protest rally in front of the headquarters on the 24th. The minority shareholder representatives leading the rally claimed that the potential management control threat due to the future stock conversion of the convertible bonds recently issued by Samyoung ENC and the nomination of a joint venture company affiliate as an outside director candidate at the recent regular shareholders' meeting were attempts by speculative capital forces to seize management control.

Samyoung ENC explained that regarding the director appointments rejected last month at the regular shareholders' meeting due to a lack of quorum, there was no joint venture company affiliate among the outside director candidates. The company also added that the retirement of former co-CEO Hwang Jae-woo due to term expiration is unrelated to the minority shareholders' claims of speculative capital forces attempting to seize management control.

As the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spreads worldwide, uncertain management conditions continue. Samyoung ENC issued convertible bonds to secure liquidity necessary for facility investment and operations to respond to market changes. Following the acquisition of 400,000 treasury shares in March this year, the company plans to enhance shareholder value through additional recent acquisitions of treasury shares worth approximately 1 billion KRW via trust.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.