On the 13th, MBK Partners and Yeongpung announced that they had filed an injunction with the Seoul Central District Court on the 11th, requesting a ban on the disposal of approximately 2.04 million treasury shares (9.85%) acquired by Korea Zinc through a tender offer.
On the same day, representatives from MBK and Yeongpung stated, "Despite continuous demands, Korea Zinc has only said it plans to cancel the shares but has delayed taking action."
The representatives pointed out, "There remains a possibility that Korea Zinc will resort to tactics to preserve voting rights by contributing, lending, or transferring treasury shares to third parties around the record dates of the extraordinary general meeting and the regular general meeting on the 20th and 31st," adding, "If treasury shares are lent to a third party and then re-lent to multiple third parties, it becomes difficult to identify the borrowers, making it challenging to obtain timely relief even if an injunction to prohibit voting rights is filed."
They also emphasized that the court dismissed the injunction to suspend the tender offer procedure for Korea Zinc’s treasury shares last October on the premise of 'cancellation of treasury shares.' Meanwhile, MBK and Yeongpung representatives claimed, "The core issue is that Korea Zinc has never disclosed a specific timing for the cancellation of treasury shares," suggesting that "it appears to be an attempt to revive voting rights."
Furthermore, they added, "If the disposal of treasury shares is forced, there is a possibility of sanctions from financial authorities. In such a case, even if the company needs funds, issuing securities to raise capital for business purposes could be prohibited," and "If treasury shares are disposed of and the name change is completed by the 31st, dividends that do not need to be paid might have to be paid, causing additional losses."
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