The prosecution has launched a forced investigation into allegations that private equity firm MBK Partners and a law firm employee gained unfair profits using undisclosed information.
The Financial Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Suhong) announced on the 19th that it conducted a search and seizure at the office of the law firm Bae, Kim & Lee LLC in Jung-gu, Seoul. This is the first forced investigation following the referral of the case involving the use of undisclosed material information by employee A of MBK Partners Special Situations (SS) Fund to the prosecution by the Financial Services Commission's Securities and Futures Commission in January.
According to the prosecution, A is suspected of passing on material information learned during the tender offer for Korea & Company shares in December 2023 to two acquaintances. The financial authorities believe that A's acquaintances earned several hundred million won in unfair profits through stock trading just before the tender offer. It is also known that three employees of Bae, Kim & Lee LLC, who were advising on the tender offer at the time, checked the information and bought shares in advance to gain unfair profits.
This case began to be investigated by financial authorities last year following a notification from the Korea Exchange. The Korea Exchange reported suspicious transactions to the authorities through its abnormal transaction detection system, which monitors bid information and stock price movements.
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