[Market Focus] Hanamicron Jumps 9% on News of Spin-off Withdrawal

Hanamicron is showing strong performance in early trading.

As of 9:03 a.m. on July 30, Hanamicron is trading at 12,250 won, up 9.47% (1,060 won) from the previous day.

The surge in investor sentiment is believed to be due to news that Hanamicron has withdrawn its planned spin-off. On the previous day, Hanamicron announced, "After communicating with various stakeholders, including minority shareholders, we received multiple opinions regarding concerns about the spin-off, the transition to a holding company, and the potential for shareholder value to be damaged due to changes in the governance structure. For the benefit of the company and its shareholders, we carefully reconsidered whether to proceed with the spin-off and concluded that withdrawing the plan would be the most appropriate course of action."

Previously, in January, Hanamicron had announced a plan to spin off its semiconductor packaging and testing business into a new legal entity. The plan involved dividing the company into Hanasemiconductor Holdings (tentative name), which would oversee investment operations, and Hanamicron, which would handle the actual semiconductor back-end process business. However, there was a flood of criticism that, during the spin-off process, only the controlling shareholder's influence would increase, while minority shareholders could bear the burden of a decline in share value.

Although the spin-off plan was approved at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting held on July 16, minority shareholders subsequently filed for a provisional injunction to suspend the effect of the shareholders' meeting. The court granted this injunction the previous day, making a prolonged delay in Hanamicron's spin-off inevitable, and as a result, the company decided to withdraw the plan.