Korea Zinc "Will Announce Paid-in Capital Increase Plan Again Soon... Did Not Fully Anticipate Market Changes"

Mentioned in Q3 Earnings Conference Call
"Plans to be announced soon after addressing regulatory concerns"
"Also considering ways to resolve side effects beyond public offering"

Amid financial authorities putting a brake on Korea Zinc's rights offering, Korea Zinc has stated that it will announce a revised plan considering the authorities' demands and market reactions.

On the 12th, during a Q3 earnings conference call held for securities analysts, Korea Zinc apologized, saying, "We urgently decided on a general public rights offering recently and failed to fully anticipate changes in market conditions, which raised concerns."

A Korea Zinc official explained, "We announced the plan with the goal of changing from a concentrated ownership structure to a dispersed one, easing disputes, and transitioning into a national company. However, there were unexpected factors such as changes in market conditions, concerns from institutional and small investors, and the regulatory authority's request to amend the securities registration statement."

Earlier, on the 30th of last month, Korea Zinc announced that it would newly issue 3,732,650 common shares, nearly 20% of the total issued shares, through a general public offering at 670,000 KRW per share.

Following the announcement of a rights offering that contradicted the recent share buyback, the Financial Supervisory Service launched an investigation citing potential unfair trading, and on the 6th requested Korea Zinc to submit an amended registration statement.

Regarding this, a Korea Zinc official said, "We are closely monitoring the situation and have held several meetings, including separate discussions by outside directors. We will soon gather internal discussions and market feedback, review shareholders' concerns and regulatory demands, and announce a revised plan."

He added, "We are taking the rights offering very seriously. While it is difficult to say at this moment that we will withdraw it, even if we do, we still believe there are concerns such as delisting and shareholder damage. We will consider various alternatives outside of a public offering to resolve side effects."

However, he mentioned that the risk of delisting remains if the rights offering is withdrawn. Korea Zinc stated, "Although it does not seem that delisting conditions will be met given the significant stock price increase after the share buyback, the high stock price volatility is partly due to the reduced market float. If the rights offering is withdrawn, this risk will remain, and we will need to explore other options."

Meanwhile, Korea Zinc reaffirmed its previous stance regarding the 2,040,300 treasury shares (9.85% stake) acquired through the share buyback, stating, "We plan to proceed with cancellation as soon as possible."