Shares of SK Group’s holding company extended a steep rally on Friday after the latest court ruling that the group’s chairman Chey Tae-won should pay 1.38 trillion won ($1 billion) to his estranged wife Roh So-young in a property settlement.
Investors bet on the additional rally of SK Inc. shares, as the premium for management rights of a certain firm typically rises in the stock market if the controlling power of its owner shows signs of weakening.
According to data from the Korea Exchange, shares of SK Inc. closed at 176,200 won, up 11.45 percent from a day earlier, widening its winning streak for two consecutive days. Its stock price closed with a gain of 9.26 percent on the main bourse, Thursday, when the Seoul High Court judged in favor of Roh in their ongoing divorce lawsuit, acknowledging Roh’s contribution to Chey’s asset accumulation. Roh is the daughter of the late former President Roh Tae-woo.
Legal and business experts said the latest ruling will, however, pose a limited impact on the governance structure of SK Group.
“SK Group is the nation’s second-largest conglomerate by market capitalization, and chances appear very slim that the group’s management structure is being shaken simply by the ruling,” Choi June-sun, professor emeritus at Sungkyunkwan University Law School, said.
The key agenda to be discussed at the Supreme Court is whether the former president provided preferential treatment to the growth of SK Group.
“But it will take at least a couple of years for the court to make a final order,” he said. “It is too early to jump to a hasty conclusion as to the ongoing legal battle between the two.”
After the latest ruling that Chey’s stock is also subject to division, some raised a possibility that Roh will be able to exude bigger management influence within the group by possibly acquiring more stakes there.
As of the end of the first quarter of this year, Chey holds a 17.73 percent stake in SK Inc. and its value surpasses 2.2 trillion won. Chey piled up his property mostly from stock holdings. He also has SK Discovery shares worth more than 950 million won.
Other experts said Chey will sell shares from the group’s other affiliates that will exude little influence to his management within the group. They include sales of unlisted shares — such as SK Siltron.
“Chey will have to raise cash either by taking out stock loans or selling shares from SK Siltron,” Kim Dae-jong, a professor of business administration at Sejong University, said.
Even if the amount of the property settlement is huge, this will not pose any serious threat to Chey’s management of the group, he added.
“Given the size of SK Group, the ruling, in itself, is unlikely to cast any meaningful influence to shake his presence as the group’s top management,” Kim said.
Chey’s legal representative called the latest court ruling “biased and arbitrary.”
“We cannot agree with the ruling, which may end up shaking the group’s history and its future,” his legal counsel said in a statement.
“There is no proven evidence that SK Group received any tangible and intangible benefits (from the former president),” it said. “The ruling is based on ambiguous speculation, so we cannot be convinced.”
According to data from the Financial Supervisory Service, Chey is SK Inc.’s largest shareholder as of the first quarter. The National Pension 온라인카지노 Service (NPS) came in second with a stake of 7.38 percent in the group’s holding firm. The NPS engaged in a mass buying spree of SK Inc. shares worth 32.2 billion won on the same day as the court ruling — the largest daily buying for the first time in almost three months since Feb. 1.