While the consortium concluded the tender offer that day, they fell short of their target of acquiring between 6.98 percent and 14.61 percent. However, they moved closer to a majority voting position by increasing their total stake from 33.13 percent to 38.47 percent, the sources said.
After the stock market closed, Young Poong, the largest shareholder of Korea Zinc, vowed to focus all efforts on halting the competing share buyback program initiated by Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-beom and U.S. buyout firm Bain Capital.
Choi and his allies currently control 33.99 percent of the shares. Choi's side aims to acquire up to 17.5 percent of the total shares, while Bain Capital seeks to purchase an additional 2.5 percent.
If Choi’s side reaches its full target in the ongoing share buyback program, which runs until Oct. 23, the Young Poong-MBK alliance would control about 48 percent of voting rights. The treasury shares that Choi’s side will acquire do not carry voting rights.
MBK has previously emphasized that, considering Korea Zinc's shareholder meeting attendance rates over the past two years, a voting stake in the mid-40 percent range could be sufficient to prevail in a shareholder vote.
"Today will remain a significant milestone in Korea's capital market," the alliance said.
“A leveraged share buyback exceeding 3 trillion won would cause irreversible damage to Korea Zinc, harm the company's financial structure and transfer these losses to the remaining shareholders,” the consortium added.
MBK plans to call for an extraordinary shareholders' meeting soon to secure board control.
During the month-long tender offer, the Young Poong-MBK alliance raised their bid twice, from an initial 660,000 won (US486) per share to 830,000 won.
In response, Chairman Choi's side launched a defensive share buyback at 830,000 won per share, later increasing it to 890,000 won on Friday. Their buyback offer continues until Oct. 23.
Analysts expect the dispute to continue until the regular shareholder meeting season in March next year.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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