Evolus Sells 2.19 Million Shares
Ultra-Low Price Purchase Through BTX Patent Agreement
Achieves Profit Approximately 900,000 Times
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Medytox has begun a large-scale sale of Evolus shares, a partner company of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, which is continuing its dispute related to botulinum toxin (BTX). Previously, it made a huge profit by purchasing the shares at an ultra-low price through a U.S. patent agreement.
Medytox announced on the 8th that its board of directors resolved on the 7th to sell 2,187,511 shares of Evolus stock held in the U.S. for 23.19582 billion KRW. If this sale is completed, Medytox's stake in Evolus will fall to 9.13% (5,071,989 shares).
Evolus is currently a partner company selling Daewoong Pharmaceutical's BTX product 'Nabota' under the brand name 'Jeuveau' in the U.S. The shares being disposed of this time were also acquired by Medytox through an agreement related to the ongoing BTX patent dispute with Daewoong Pharmaceutical. In 2021, during the settlement process of the U.S. import and sales ban on Nabota imposed on Daewoong Pharmaceutical following Medytox's BTX strain theft lawsuit filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), Medytox purchased 6.76 million new common shares of Evolus at an ultra-low price.
At that time, the price of the new shares issued by Evolus was $0.00001, and Medytox spent only $68 to purchase 6.76 million shares. In contrast, the current sale price is about 10,603 KRW per share, resulting in a profit approximately 900,000 times greater. On the 7th (local time), Evolus shares closed at $9.25 (about 11,599 KRW) on the U.S. stock market.
Even after acquiring the shares through the agreement, Medytox continued to purchase additional Evolus shares and became the largest shareholder of Evolus. While continuously making purchases on the market, in September of the same year, Medytox became the largest shareholder due to the reflex effect of Alpheon, the previous largest shareholder of Evolus, reducing its stake.
Meanwhile, the BTX patent dispute between Medytox and Daewoong Pharmaceutical is still ongoing. Although the U.S. ITC and domestic criminal lawsuits have concluded, the civil lawsuit is still in progress. The first trial date for the civil lawsuit was originally set for December 16 last year but was postponed once to the 1st of this month and then again delayed to the afternoon of the 10th.
In this context, with only two days left before the verdict, some speculate that Medytox's large-scale sale of Evolus shares, a partner company of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, may indicate Medytox's confidence in victory and a proactive move to realize profits. However, Medytox stated, "The purpose of the disposal is to improve management efficiency by realizing profits through the sale of related shares."
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