Allain "Doosan Enerbility Opposes Doosan Bobcat's Discounted Transfer"‥Disclosure of Voting Rights Solicitation Agent

Align Partners Asset Management expressed opposition to the discounted transfer of Doosan Bobcat by Doosan Enerbility through a proxy solicitation disclosure on the 28th.

Align stated, "We oppose the approval of the split merger agreement for 46% of Doosan Bobcat shares with Doosan Robotics as the counterparty, which is scheduled to be voted on at Doosan Enerbility's extraordinary general meeting on December 12." They added, "The board of directors of a publicly listed company must choose a method that maximizes the interests of the company and all shareholders when disposing of major assets, and this goes against that principle."

According to Align, the Doosan Enerbility board is pushing a plan to transfer a controlling 46% stake in Doosan Bobcat at a discounted price to Doosan Robotics, a related party, by arbitrarily applying a control premium to the currently undervalued market price.

In this plan, the per-share value of the controlling 46% stake in Doosan Bobcat is evaluated at KRW 72,729. This corresponds to approximately six times the enterprise value to EBITDA (EV/EBITDA). The total amount is KRW 3.4 trillion.

Align said, "It is highly likely to be lower than a public competitive bidding price. Considering this, before transferring the stake to a related party at an arbitrary price, pursuing a public competitive bidding would maximize the benefits for the company and all shareholders." They added, "If Doosan Robotics or other Doosan Group affiliates want to purchase the stake, they should participate in the public competitive bidding and present a competitive purchase price."

They continued, "Shareholders must exercise their voting rights to oppose the split merger plan being promoted by the company to prevent the discounted transfer attempt of Doosan Bobcat shares, a core subsidiary and major asset of Doosan Enerbility, so that valuable shareholder value can be protected."

Doosan Bobcat, a global leader in the compact construction equipment market, is a high-quality company generating operating profits exceeding KRW 1 trillion. It is a key subsidiary accounting for approximately 55% of Doosan Enerbility’s consolidated sales and 95% of its operating profit in 2023. As of November 22, Align holds 1,356,973 shares of Doosan Bobcat (1.35% of the total issued shares) through funds it manages or advises.

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