[Featured Stock] HYBE's Tender Offer Unchanged... SM Drops 5%

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] HYBE's statement that there will be no adjustment to SM's public tender offer has caused SM's stock price to plunge on the 20th. It fell more than 5%, dropping to the 120,000 KRW range.

As of 10:17 AM on the day, SM was trading at 123,300 KRW, down 5.23% from the previous trading day. Early in the session, it dropped to as low as 121,700 KRW. The stock price decline was influenced by HYBE's announcement that it would not raise the public tender offer and would maintain the currently proposed price of 120,000 KRW.

A HYBE official emphasized the day before, "(Although the current stock price is higher than the public tender offer price) we plan to proceed without any changes to the currently proposed price until the end of the tender offer."

SM's stock price surged as the management rights dispute between HYBE and Kakao intensified. After Kakao announced it had secured shares in SM, SM's stock closed at 90,100 KRW on the 7th, and during trading on the 16th, it soared to 133,600 KRW, rising about 48.3% in seven trading days. It closed at 130,100 KRW on the 17th as well. HYBE plans to publicly tender up to 25% of minority shareholders' shares at 120,000 KRW per share by the 28th of this month.