Founder and Largest Shareholder of 'F&Guide' Competes by Purchasing Shares

Founded in 2000... Acquired by Hwacheon Machinery in 2005
CEO Kim Gun-ho holds the largest single shareholder stake
Hwacheon Group owner family focuses on expanding control

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] The founder and largest shareholders of 'FnGuide,' the most representative financial information company in Korea, have been continuously purchasing shares. While founder Kim Gun-ho leads FnGuide as a professional manager, Kim and the owner family of Hwacheon Group, which acquired FnGuide, have been steadily accumulating shares. In particular, their active share purchases since FnGuide's listing on the KOSDAQ market have drawn attention to the background.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 16th, FnGuide disclosed that on the 13th, Kwon Hyung-seok, CEO of Hwacheon Machinery and the largest shareholder, purchased 1,800 shares (0.01%), Kwon Hyung-do, Vice President of Hwacheon Machinery, bought 33,734 shares (0.28%), and Kwon Hyung-woon, Vice President of Hwacheon Engineering, acquired 33,734 shares (0.28%). A total of 69,268 shares (0.57%) were purchased. The purchase amount reached 469.68 million KRW.

Vice Presidents Kwon Hyung-do and Kwon Hyung-woon are brothers, and they are cousins of CEO Kwon Hyung-seok. They are third-generation executives of the Hwacheon Group owner family. FnGuide stated the reason for the disclosure as "on-market purchase, additional related parties," and the reason for the change as "simple additional acquisition, additional related companies."

Founded in 2000 by founder and current professional manager Kim, FnGuide is Korea's most representative financial information company. It provides services that organize and display all disclosed information, from listed companies' financial data to shareholding relationships. When it faced a crisis due to the IT bubble burst in 2005, it was acquired by Hwacheon Machinery. Since then, its sales scale has steadily increased, surpassing 100 billion KRW in 2012, and it succeeded in listing on KONEX the following year. In 2020, it moved its listing to KOSDAQ.

Until now, FnGuide has been led by Kim as a professional manager. However, since the KOSDAQ listing, Kim has been steadily purchasing shares, attracting attention. In less than three years since the KOSDAQ listing, he has purchased a total of 46,919 shares. During the same period, CEO Kwon also accumulated 35,631 shares and has continued additional purchases recently.

Currently, Kim's shareholding ratio is 10.65%, the largest among individual shareholders. The Hwacheon Group holds a total of 37.82%, including CEO Kwon (4.91%), related party Hwacheon Machinery (4.54%), Hwacheon Engineering (4.29%), Kwon Young-yeol (3.08%, the largest shareholder's father), and Kwon Hyung-do and Kwon Hyung-woon (3.04% each).

Meanwhile, among shareholders holding more than 5%, the economic newspaper Money Today ranks next after Kim, holding 6.40%. Additionally, the Hwacheon Group's shares include 7.51% held by FnGuide executives such as Lee Cheol-soon and Jeon Young-mook.