[At a Crossroads: Listed Company] IM, New Largest Shareholder Loses Stocks Immediately After Taking Control①

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Im Il-woo, CEO of Greenlease who became the largest shareholder of KOSDAQ-listed company IM, had all his shares forcibly sold on the day of the extraordinary shareholders' meeting. However, since he secured management rights, there are plans to welcome a new largest shareholder through a capital increase in the future.

Capture of the I AM homepage.

Shares Lost After Securing Management Rights

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure on the 22nd, Zion Equity Partners, which lent money using 4,696,605 shares (8.0%) of IM held by Im Il-woo, the new largest shareholder and CEO of Greenlease, as collateral, exercised its collateral rights on the 18th.

Previously, on April 12, former largest shareholder Park Se-cheol signed a contract to transfer 8.0% of shares and management rights of IM to Im Il-woo for 14 billion KRW. Im initially disclosed that he would acquire these shares using his own cash holdings.

However, the payment of the intermediate installment was delayed twice, and on the 17th, Im disclosed that he borrowed 6.09 billion KRW using all his shares as collateral. Immediately after disclosing the stock collateral loan, Zion Equity Partners, the collateral holder, withdrew the shares the very next day.

Nevertheless, Im has secured management rights of IM. At the shareholders' meeting on the 18th, six people including Im were appointed as new directors of IM. The shareholders' meeting was held just before Im’s shares were reclaimed by the collateral holder, allowing him to retain control.

Im, who was briefly the largest shareholder of IM, was born in 1986 and is the CEO of a corporation called Greenlease. Greenlease, established in 2017 with a capital of 10 million KRW, primarily operates in the distribution of household goods, beauty products, and financial consulting services.

Im was appointed as the management controller of Gyeongnam Pharmaceutical in 2018 and was reportedly considering acquiring Gyeongnam Pharmaceutical at that time. He also has experience working as an executive officer at Imagine Asia, which is currently under trading suspension. In the past, through Greenlease, he attempted to invest in convertible bonds (CB) of KOSDAQ-listed NSN but failed to make payments for six months.

Who Is the New Largest Shareholder?

The new largest shareholder of IM is expected to be ‘Izel Creative.’ On the same day, IM announced that it would conduct a third-party allotment capital increase worth 10 billion KRW targeting Izel Creative. Upon completion of the capital increase, approximately 6.8 million new shares will be issued, and Izel Creative will secure a 10.4% stake in IM.

Izel Creative is a company that designs and develops beauty devices, baby products, and toys. Its representative brands include the beauty device specialist brand ‘Clensure’ and the baby product specialist brand ‘Bebesure.’ As of the end of last year, it recorded sales of 2.5 billion KRW and a net profit of 60 million KRW.

The largest shareholder of Izel Creative is CEO Park Yeon-hoon, who holds 90% of the shares. Park was appointed as a new director alongside Im Il-woo at the IM extraordinary shareholders' meeting held on the 18th.

Meanwhile, IM is a company primarily engaged in the sale of optical module components applied to electronic products. As of the end of last year, it recorded consolidated sales of 146.3 billion KRW, an operating loss of 7.1 billion KRW, and a net loss of 12.5 billion KRW.