According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on Jan. 31, the largest shareholder of Namyang Dairy Products has changed from Hong Won-sik and three others to Hahn & Co., as disclosed the day before. This announcement comes just over a month after the Supreme Court’s final ruling related to a management dispute.
Hahn & Co., the newly appointed largest shareholder, holds a stake of 52.63 percent, amounting to 378,938 shares. In terms of Namyang Dairy Products ownership, Hahn & Co. possesses 52.63 percent of the total 53.08 percent held by the Hong family, including Chairman Hong. To solidify the transfer of stock ownership, Hahn & Co. has confirmed the payment of a total stock transaction amount of 310.7 billion won (US$232.65 million), equivalent to 820,000 won per share, to Chairman Hong and his associates.
Namyang Dairy Products has revealed the reason for the change in the largest shareholder as “the transfer of stock ownership and completion of payment confirmed through the Supreme Court’s final ruling on the stock purchase agreement.” The company explained, “With the Supreme Court’s confirmed ruling on the stock purchase agreement, the ownership of shares has been transferred to Hahn & Co., and the payment for the acquisition has been successfully completed.”
On Jan. 4 the Supreme Court confirmed the lower court’s decision in favor of Hahn & Co. in the appeal regarding the stock transfer lawsuit filed against Namyang Dairy Products. Following this ruling, Chairman Hong and another individual announced that they had received the entire purchase price from Hahn & Co. through the stock transfer.
Meanwhile, Hahn & Co. plans to focus on management normalization, including the appointment of new executives.