Celltrion Decides to Buy Back 75 Billion KRW of Treasury Shares and Cancel 200 Billion KRW

Celltrion announced on the 17th that it has decided to repurchase its own shares worth 75 billion KRW and to cancel approximately 200 billion KRW worth of treasury shares.

Seo Jung-jin, Chairman of Celltrion. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Celltrion will first proceed with the repurchase of 436,047 shares (about 75 billion KRW) of its own stock. By continuing the 75 billion KRW scale share repurchase conducted last month into this month as well, the company aims to stabilize the stock price and enhance shareholder value. The acquisition will be made through on-market purchases starting from the 18th.

As a result, following last year's 1.25 trillion KRW scale share repurchase, Celltrion has undertaken 150 billion KRW worth of share repurchases just this year.

The cancellation of treasury shares will also be carried out simultaneously. The total number of shares to be canceled this time is 1,119,924 shares, which corresponds to 10% of the treasury shares held. The amount is approximately 176.5 billion KRW. However, the company explained, "This amount is the book value calculated based on the average acquisition cost per share," and "Based on the closing price of the previous day, it amounts to about 200 billion KRW."

Earlier in January, Celltrion also canceled treasury shares worth 400 billion KRW, corresponding to 20.6% of the treasury shares held. With this additional share cancellation, Celltrion will have canceled treasury shares worth 600 billion KRW, equivalent to 30% of the treasury shares, just this year. All these amounts are calculated based on the previous day's closing price. Once this share cancellation is completed, Celltrion's total number of issued shares will decrease to 216,929,838 shares.

Celltrion explained that this share repurchase and cancellation were conducted to stabilize the stock price and enhance shareholder value. Despite expectations for market stabilization following the listing of the new autoimmune disease treatment drug Jimentra on major U.S. pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and anticipated approvals of subsequent biosimilar product lines in major overseas countries, the company judged that its corporate value is undervalued compared to these future growth drivers.

A Celltrion official stated, “This year, we expect to create a new heyday for Celltrion through the market stabilization of the new drug Jimentra in the U.S. and the approval of subsequent biosimilars,” adding, “Along with business performance, we will continue to pursue mutual growth through continuous shareholder returns.”