GammaNu's 'Delisting Invalidity Lawsuit' Final Victory

Supreme Court Denies Review... Upholds Lower Court Ruling Favoring GammaNu

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwanju] GammaNu, a KOSDAQ-listed company, has won the final victory in a lawsuit against the Korea Exchange (KRX) seeking to nullify its delisting. This is the first time a delisting decision made by the exchange has been overturned.

According to industry sources on the 13th, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal in the final trial of GammaNu's lawsuit to confirm the invalidity of the delisting decision without a hearing.

A dismissal without a hearing is a system where an appeal is rejected without substantive review if there is no special reason such as a legal violation. Accordingly, the lower court ruling accepting GammaNu's claim was confirmed.

GammaNu received a 'disclaimer of opinion' due to scope limitation in the audit opinion on its 2017 fiscal year audit report submitted in 2018, which triggered a formal delisting cause. Formal delisting refers to the delisting of companies that fail to meet the exchange's listing criteria in quantitative aspects such as capital and market capitalization.

Subsequently, GammaNu filed an objection and was granted a temporary suspension of delisting once and entered an improvement period, but failed to submit a re-audit report with an 'unqualified' opinion within the prescribed deadline. Ultimately, the delisting was confirmed in September 2018, and the company entered the orderly trading process.

However, in October of the same year, the court accepted GammaNu's injunction request to suspend the effect of the delisting decision, halting the orderly trading process. Later, in January 2019, GammaNu received an 'unqualified' audit opinion on the 2017 fiscal year audit report, resolving the issue that had originally caused the delisting, sparking controversy.