‘Usurpation of Corporate Opportunity’
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) is taking aim at allegations that SK Group acquired a stake in SK Siltron for the personal interest of Chairman Chey Tae-won.
According to the KFTC and the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly on November 9, the KFTC is recently investigating the case to find out whether or not SK Group chairman Chey involved in usurping corporate opportunities for the process of his acquiring a 29.4% stake in SK Siltron.
A local media reported that the specific investigation plans were not confirmed yet but a civil group called the Solidarity for Economic Reform asked the KFTC to look into the allegations on November 7 right after the KFTC recognized it.
In addition, the Solidarity for Economic Reform said, “Chairman Chey already made a gain of more than 1 trillion won (US$918.7 million) through the sale of his stocks and dividend income after buying SK C&C shares at 6 billion won (US$5.51 million). The market value of Chey’s SK Holdings shares is estimated at about 5 trillion won (US$4.59 billion). It is very regretful that Chey tried a usurpation of corporate opportunity once again through the takeover.”
SK Group decided to acquire a 51 percent stake in Siltron from LG at 620 billion won (US$569.38 million) in January this year and then an additional 19.6 percent stake out of the remaining 49 percent stake in SK Siltron from a private equity fund firm in April. Chey also acquired the 29.4 percent stake in SK Siltron from a group of creditor lenders including Woori Bank. In short, SK Group and Chey actually hold the 100 percent stake in SK Siltron.
In this regard, the Solidarity for Economic Reform pointed out that Chey possibly involved in usurpation of corporate opportunity that is prohibited by the commercial laws and fair trade laws.