Court Approves Lee Soo-man's Request to Access 'SM Acquisition Meeting Minutes'

Former SM Entertainment Chief Producer Lee Soo-man was granted access to review the minutes of the board of directors related to last year's SM acquisition battle.

Former SM Entertainment Chief Producer Lee Soo-man. [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 31st, the 21st Civil Division of the Seoul Eastern District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Yoo-sung) partially accepted Lee Soo-man's request to review and copy the board meeting minutes against SM the day before. The documents subject to review are the minutes and attached materials from February 20 to August 10 of last year.

The court ruled, "Simply requesting to review and copy the entire board meeting minutes cannot be seen as having an improper purpose, and considering all circumstances comprehensively, it is difficult to conclude that the review and copying lack a legitimate purpose."

Lee Soo-man was SM's largest shareholder but sold his 14.8% stake to HYBE in February last year. Afterwards, a fierce competition for SM's management rights ensued between Kakao and HYBE. Ultimately, SM ended up under Kakao's control, and Lee Soo-man requested to review and copy the board meeting minutes in September last year. At that time, SM refused access citing reasons such as "it harms the common interests of shareholders," and Lee Soo-man reportedly applied to the court for permission to review and copy the documents.

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