Plan to Purchase Celltrion Shares Worth 500 Billion Won in Total
Future Business Structure Reform Through M&A and More
Celltrion Holdings, the holding company of Celltrion Group, has secured a new funding limit of 1 trillion won and is embarking on a long-term restructuring of its business structure.
According to Celltrion on July 4, Celltrion Holdings plans to begin by purchasing a large volume of Celltrion shares as the first step to improve profitability and enhance the corporate value of its subsidiaries. By acquiring additional shares, the company aims not only to increase returns through expected dividend expansion, but also to support the enhancement of shareholder value in subsidiaries that are excessively undervalued compared to their intrinsic value. The share purchase will be carried out in two rounds, totaling 500 billion won, with all shares to be bought on the open market.
Initially, the company plans to purchase approximately 250 billion won worth of Celltrion shares as soon as possible. Taking into account the period for Celltrion share purchases by top management and major shareholders, which was announced in a public disclosure in April, the company intends to begin the main round of purchases in early August and complete the total 500 billion won buyback within the year.
Once the new share buyback of 500 billion won is completed within the year, Celltrion Holdings plans to hold these shares for at least one year. In addition, if the undervaluation of shares persists, the company is also actively considering investing the remaining 500 billion won to further enhance the value for subsidiary shareholders.
If Celltrion's undervaluation is alleviated and external uncertainties are resolved, the holding company plans to sell the newly acquired shares to secure liquidity, with the aim of accelerating business structure reform and improving capital efficiency. The sale will be conducted in a manner that minimizes market impact, and apart from the newly acquired shares, Celltrion Holdings will retain its existing holdings for the long term.
The company also plans to accelerate the restructuring of its holding company business structure. In particular, it will actively seek ways to transition from a pure holding company to an operating holding company, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with high-value domestic and overseas companies. Through this restructuring, the company aims to maximize capital productivity and management efficiency as a holding company.
A Celltrion Group representative stated, "With the large-scale funding of 1 trillion won now secured, we will proceed with efficient capital management and investment, taking into account not only the restructuring and profitability improvement of the holding company, but also the enhancement of shareholder value for our key affiliate, Celltrion." The representative added, "In particular, regarding the share buyback, Celltrion has significant growth potential and its dividend payout ratio continues to expand, so increasing our stake is expected to greatly contribute to improving the profitability structure of Celltrion Holdings."
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