[Featured Stock] ShillaJen Hits Upper Limit on First Day of Trading Resumption

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] ShillaJen, which was on the brink of delisting but made a miraculous recovery, closed at the upper price limit on the first day of resumed trading.

On the 13th, in the KOSDAQ market, ShillaJen closed at 10,850 KRW, up 29.47% from the reference price of 8,380 KRW. Although it briefly dipped slightly from the upper limit in the morning, it maintained the upper limit from around noon.

Earlier, in pre-market after-hours trading, a flood of sell orders caused ShillaJen to trade at 6,050 KRW, the lowest price within the 50% to 200% range of the previous closing price of 12,100 KRW before the trading suspension, which was a 'half-cut' price.

Subsequently, buying demand surged just before the market opened, pushing the stock price up and setting the reference price at 8,380 KRW. This price is 30.74% lower than the previous closing price.

The stock price fluctuated from after-hours trading through the market opening, causing mixed feelings among investors.

Existing shareholders who sold their shares during after-hours trading suffered losses of up to 50%, but investors who entered at that time and sold at the upper limit price (10,850 KRW) are estimated to have gained up to 79.34% (4,800 KRW per share).

After the market opened, the stock price surged sharply, triggering static and dynamic Volatility Interruption (VI) mechanisms once each. VI is a system that temporarily switches to single-price trading for two minutes to ease price volatility when the stock price changes rapidly.

On this day, ShillaJen’s trading volume exceeded 19 million shares by 10 a.m. and was approximately 30 million shares by market close. The trading value was about 302.7 billion KRW, ranking just behind Samsung Electronics (761.8 billion KRW) and SK Hynix (413 billion KRW) in the KOSPI market.

ShillaJen’s stock trading was suspended on May 4, 2020, due to the management’s embezzlement and breach of trust allegations, which triggered a delisting eligibility review. The closing price at that time was 12,100 KRW.

As part of responsible management and investor protection, major shareholder MTN and key shareholder 'New ShillaJen Investment Association No.1' announced before the market opened that they will voluntarily hold all their shares until October 12, 2025, at the latest.

MTN will hold 18.75 million shares until October 12, 2025, and New ShillaJen Investment Association No.1 will voluntarily hold 2.5 million shares from November 12 this year to February 12 next year.

Chairman Seo Hong-min of MTN and affiliate Leadcorp also set a lock-up period until October 12, 2025, for their holdings of 4,879,408 shares and 1,676,814 shares of MTN stock, respectively.