Young Poong, MBK Win U.S. Appeal Against Korea Zinc Affiliate... Set to Verify Ignio Investment

Victory in PedalPoint Appeals Case

"Truth Behind Ignio High-Priced Investment to Be Revealed"

Young Poong, the largest shareholder of Korea Zinc, announced that it has achieved a final victory in the U.S. appeals process related to litigation involving Korea Zinc’s management and board members. With this ruling, Young Poong stated it will be able to secure key documents from PedalPoint, Korea Zinc’s U.S. affiliate, and verify Chairman Choi Yoonbum’s investment in Ignio.

On April 23, representatives of Young Poong and MBK Partners said that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit fully dismissed the appeal filed by PedalPoint on April 22 and upheld the first-instance decision allowing Young Poong’s discovery request.

Through this, Young Poong and MBK will continue to pursue the submission of documents and secure witness testimony from PedalPoint in the United States, gaining access to previously restricted core information.

They noted that this decision is expected to serve as an opportunity for substantive verification of the entire decision-making process and transaction structure related to Chairman Choi Yoonbum’s high-priced investment in Ignio.

Korea Zinc acquired Ignio, an electronic waste recycling company established in 2021, for a total of 580 billion won in 2022. At the time of the acquisition, Ignio was in a state of complete capital erosion. Young Poong and MBK pointed out that the transaction caused significant losses to the company and its shareholders, while the seller realized profits nearly 100 times greater than their initial investment.

Ignio’s initial paid-in capital was only about 2.75 million dollars (approximately 3.3 billion won), yet Korea Zinc paid around 300 million dollars (approximately 360 billion won) to acquire the initial shares. This structure resulted in extremely high profits in a short period, which they claim is highly unusual compared to typical investment and M&A cases.

They also noted that the acquisition negotiations took place just a few months after Ignio’s establishment and that the deal was made at more than 100 times the initial capital, raising further questions.

A representative from Young Poong and MBK stated, “Since Korea Zinc’s claims were not accepted in the appeals process, the obstacle that had blocked access to key evidence has been effectively removed. We will thoroughly verify the grounds and rationality for the entire decision-making process behind the Ignio investment, as well as the validity of the transaction structure, which has been pointed out as a representative example of an abnormal deal, through the materials we will secure.”

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