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Photo = Yonhap news |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] A year-long management dispute within Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group has come to a complete end with the stake sale by former CEO of Hanmi Science, Im Jong-hoon.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on Tuesday, Im sold his 1.92 million shares (2.81%) on the 17th to Killington, a special purpose company (SPC) under private equity firm La Défense, which acted as a "white knight" for the four-party alliance. On the same day, Killington transferred 1 million shares (1.46%) to Shin Dong-guk, Chairman of Hanyang Precision.
As a result, the stake held by Im’s side has dropped to the low 10% range, while the four-party alliance (Song Young-sook, Shin Dong-guk, Im Joo-hyun, and La Défense) has secured over 45%, solidifying management control.
With Im's stake sale, the Im family’s combined shareholding decreased to 13.95% (Im Jong-yoon 4.47%, Im Jong-hoon 6.46%, and a cousin 3.02%), down from 16.76% on the 6th. Even when including relatives and related parties, their stake only amounts to 22.08%.
Meanwhile, the four-party alliance increased its shareholding from 43.09% to 45.90% over the same period (Song Young-sook 4.99%, Shin Dong-guk and Hanyang Precision 23.38%, Im Joo-hyun 9.15%, and La Défense 8.38%). Including related parties, their combined stake exceeds a majority at 54.20%.
With this stake sale, Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group’s governance structure has now achieved complete stability under the four-party alliance. By securing a majority stake, the possibility of future disputes has effectively been eliminated. Both sides have also agreed to withdraw all legal actions filed against each other over the past year.
Im Jong-hoon stepped down as CEO on the 13th, and Song Young-sook has been appointed as the new CEO. It is expected that Song will hand over the role to a professional CEO after the regular shareholders’ meeting and move into a non-executive position.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
