Hoban Construction, the largest shareholder of Hanjin KAL… Cho Won-tae, plan to purchase additional shares (comprehensive)

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Yun-gu = The largest shareholder of Hanjin KAL [180640], the holding company of Hanjin Group, changed from Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae to Hoban Construction. However, as Chairman Cho plans to secure additional shares next month, there is a possibility that the largest shareholder will change again.

Hanjin KAL announced on the 4th that the largest shareholder had changed as Hoban Construction and a related party now hold 13,814,053 shares (20.69%) of Hanjin KAL's common stock.

Hoban Construction's stake is 0.11 percentage points higher than the 20.58% stake held by Chairman Cho and related parties.

Hoban Group acquired a stake in Hanjin KAL from private equity fund KCGI in 2022 and became the second largest shareholder, and has steadily increased its stake through affiliates.

Last July, he increased his stake in Hanjin KAL to 20.15%, narrowing the gap with Chairman Cho to 0.42 percentage points. Afterwards, when the shareholding ratio was reversed due to additional purchases, the business combination was reported to the Fair Trade Commission last month.

However, Chairman Cho can regain his position as the largest shareholder if he purchases additional stocks early next month.

Hanjin KAL announced on the 2nd that Chairman Cho plans to purchase an additional 325,000 shares (0.49%) of Hanjin KAL common stock in early December.

If the purchase is completed as planned, Chairman Cho's share will increase from 20.58% to 21.07%, again ahead of Hoban Construction (20.69%).

Chairman Cho stated that the purpose of the stock purchase was to ‘strengthen responsible management.’

Hoban Group has stated that the purpose of purchasing shares in Hanjin KAL is 'simple investment', but the possibility of participation in management is also being discussed in the business world.

In particular, there is a possibility that Hoban Group will attempt to enter the board of directors at the regular shareholders' meeting in March next year.

As the difference in shares between Hoban Construction and Chairman Cho is small, competition between the two sides for shares is expected to continue in the future.

A change in the largest shareholder does not immediately mean a change in management rights of Hanjin Group.

Delta Air Lines and Korea Development Bank, known as Chairman Cho's friendly shareholders, held 14.90% and 10.58% of Hanjin KAL shares, respectively, as of the end of June.

Hanjin Group's position is that there is no problem in defending management rights considering these friendly shares.

However, ahead of the integration of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines in December, there are also observations that the direction of the shares held by Korea Development Bank may be a variable in the future management structure.