Youngpoong-MBK is offering a 5.3% stake in Korea Zinc… Choi Yun-beom’s side is considering additional spinoffs to get a total of 38%.

Possible to change the board of directors at the general meeting of shareholders
Choi Yun-beom’s tender offer was for 36% of the shares.
We will make every effort to obtain voting shares

The Youngpoong-MBK Partners alliance, which sought management rights to Korea Zinc, acquired more than 5% of Korea Zinc’s shares through a tender offer that ended on the 14th. Although it fell short of the original target of 14.61%, it received almost 40% of the voting rights including the existing stocks. It is possible that Youngpoong-MBK, using its advanced voting rights, could try to replace the current board of directors of Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yoon-beom. Chairman Choi had a situation where he had to consider reviewing the strategy of buying the treasury’s stock offering or hiring additional friends.

Youngpoong announced today that it had acquired 5.34% (about 1.1 million shares) of the total shares of Korea Zinc. The Youngpoong-MBK alliance will buy the stock at 830,000 won per share. A large number of investors flocked to the Youngpoong-MBK alliance, which was lower than the tender offer price (890,000 won) proposed by Chairman Choi but had an early closing date.

As a result, the Youngpoong-MBK alliance’s stake in Korea Zinc increased to 38.47% by adding the amount secured today to its existing holding (33.13%) . It surpassed President Choi’s shares (33.99%).

If Chairman Choi’s side achieves the target number of financial stock offering purchases (4.14 million shares), the Youngpoong-MBK alliance will own about 48% of shares based on voting rights. This is because if Chairman Choi introduces stocks into the market as financial stocks without voting rights, the total number of stocks with voting rights will decrease.

Chairman Choi, together with his friend Bain Capital, plans to publicly buy up to 20.0% of Korea Zinc’s shares by the 23rd. However, only 2.5% of the shares with voting rights are subject to a public offering by Bain Capital. About 17.5% of Korea Zinc’s tender offer will be included in treasury stocks without voting rights.

If Chairman Choi’s team achieves the tender offer goal, Chairman Choi’s team will receive up to 36.49% of the voting shares. They will be defeated in the voting rights battle by the Youngpoong-MBK alliance.

Based on its superior voting rights, it is possible that the Youngpoong-MBK alliance will call an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders as soon as next month. Currently, among Korea Zinc’s 13 board members, all except Youngpoong Advisor Jang Hyung-jin are members of Chairman Choi’s side. The Youngpoong-MBK alliance aims to change the board of directors by holding a voting rights battle at the general shareholders’ meeting. If this happens, the management rights of Korea Zinc that is currently held by Chairman Choi could be transferred to Youngpoong-MBK.

The Youngpoong-MBK alliance said in a statement, “Today will continue to be an important milestone in the Korean capital market,” and added, “We will maintain all our abilities to stop the public purchase of Korea Zinc’s financial shares by Chairman Choi Yoon-beom. .”

Chairman Choi’s side was in a position where he had to consider a change of strategy. Since more than 5% of the stocks have already been transferred to the Youngpoong-MBK alliance, the recruitment of voting stock must be increased in the future. There are ways such as increasing the stocks bought by Bain Capital, an affiliate, or Chairman Choi using his personal funds to increase his personal stocks. There is also a way to find additional friendly forces among existing shareholders. President Choi issued a statement saying, “We believe that the target submitted by the other party (14.61% of the total number of issued shares) has not been met,” and “We will respond appropriately in the future.”