Choi Yunbeom Goes All Out to Counter 2 Trillion Won Tender Offer
Secures Overseas Allies Including Choi Naehyeon and Choi Juwon of 3rd Generation
MBK Still Faces Controversy Over Chinese Capital
Expanding into Proxy War Among Overseas Capital?
The management dispute between Korea Zinc and MBK Partners and Young Poong is spreading into a proxy war involving foreign capital. As MBK Partners launched a public tender offer with funds worth around 2 trillion won, Korea Zinc is making every effort to secure allies both domestically and overseas. Amid controversy over MBK Partners' 'Chinese capital,' there is speculation that another foreign capital may enter the dispute.
According to industry sources on the 20th, Chairman Choi Yoon-beom of Korea Zinc and the Choi family are actively working to partner with major overseas companies. Executives such as Chairman Choi Nae-hyun of Kemco and CEO Choi Joo-won of Arc Energy are reportedly strengthening overseas networks by traveling between Asia and other regions. In particular, CEO Choi Joo-won is actively supporting Chairman Choi Yoon-beom while traveling between Australia and Korea. Arc Energy is Korea Zinc's Australian subsidiary engaged in Sunmetal and renewable energy businesses.
During the recent Chuseok holiday, Chairman Choi visited Tokyo, Japan, where he met with Japanese general trading companies that have long-standing business relationships with Korea Zinc, as well as global companies with regional headquarters in Japan. It is reported that he mainly gathered allies among companies that have collaborated with Korea Zinc. Among them, major Asian energy companies as well as SoftBank were mentioned.
In a letter sent to employees on the 19th, Chairman Choi hinted at communication with foreign companies, stating, "We have identified their weaknesses and mistakes and found ways to counter and win," and added, "Although it was the Chuseok holiday, the rest of the world was working, so there was no problem communicating with foreign companies."
From Korea Zinc's perspective, the time to block MBK Partners' attempt to take control of management by investing about 2 trillion won is short, making external support crucial. MBK Partners set the public tender offer period (from the 13th of last month to the 4th of next month) to include holidays such as the Chuseok holiday and Hangul Day. The remaining period is only 10 business days.
An industry insider explained, "Given that Chairman Choi personally went overseas amid the management dispute, it is estimated that there has been considerable progress in securing friendly forces."
On the other hand, MBK Partners has been embroiled in controversy over Chinese capital since the start of the public tender offer. Concerns have been raised in local communities and political circles that Korea Zinc, a national key industry, could be transferred overseas backed by Chinese capital. According to MBK Partners, the proportion of Chinese capital in the company is around 5%.
On the same day, Seo Beom-su, a member of the People Power Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly with the mayor and council members of Ulju-gun, stating, "Considering that the purpose of private equity funds is to realize profits through corporate value enhancement, we particularly caution against overseas sales, including to China, of MBK Partners, which has already faced controversy over national wealth outflow," expressing opposition to the public tender offer.
Kim Kwang-il, Vice Chairman of MBK Partners, strongly denied rumors of a Chinese sale at a recent press briefing, emphasizing, "MBK Partners is a native private equity fund supervised by the Korean government and is not considering a sale to China at all."
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