[Special Stock] Pado Plummets on News of Prosecution Referral

Padou is plummeting following news that it has been sent to the prosecution after being investigated by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) for allegations of 'inflated listing'.

As of 9:10 a.m. on the 23rd, Padou is trading at 13,700 won, down 6.87% (1,010 won) from the previous trading day.

On the previous day, the FSS Capital Market Special Judicial Police (Special Judicial Police) announced that it had applied charges of violating the Capital Markets Act against Padou, which concealed a sharp decline in sales and inflated its corporate value to get listed, as well as related personnel from NH Investment & Securities, the lead manager, and sent them to the prosecution with a recommendation for indictment.

Padou, a semiconductor design company, attracted attention as a unicorn company valued at over 1 trillion won and was listed on the KOSDAQ market in August last year. Its market capitalization once exceeded 2 trillion won.

The problem arose with the earnings disclosure. At the time of listing, Padou's securities registration statement estimated annual sales for 2023 at 120.2 billion won, but the actual sales confirmed after the earnings announcement were only 59 million won in the second quarter (April to June) and 320 million won in the third quarter (July to September).

In response, the FSS Special Judicial Police launched an investigation into Padou. The management is suspected of hiding the fact that sales were expected to plummet due to a decrease and suspension of orders from major clients since the end of 2022, and of attracting pre-IPO investments in February last year, just before the preliminary listing examination application.