Park Jae-hyuk is a seasoned journalist who has provided comprehensive coverage of South Korea's corporate dynamics, economic policies, industry challenges and the global positioning of Korean companies. Based on the articles he has written since joining The Korea Times in 2016, his investigative approach has helped readers understand corporate governance, economic trends and business strategies shaping South Korea’s economy.
Hanssem faces more legal action from US hedge fund
A webpage of “Our Hanssem” opened by Teton Capital Partners / Screenshot from Our Hanssem website
By Park Jae-hyuk
Hanssem founder Cho Chang-gul
Teton opens website to convince minority shareholders
By Park Jae-hyuk
Teton Capital Partners will bring Hanssem to a local court later this week, if Hanssem's management fails to reply to its latest requests, according to the Texas-based hedge fund's attorney, Monday.
As a relevant move, the U.S. firm, the Korean furniture maker's second-largest shareholder with a 9.23-percent stake, opened a website, titled “Our Hanssem,” to convince the furniture maker's minority shareholders to support its claim that Hanssem's largest shareholder, Cho Chang-gul, and seven related persons, should allow other shareholders to enjoy the profits from the recent sale of the controlling stake to IMM Private Equity.
“After we announced last week that Teton's stake in Hanssem rose to 9.23 percent from 8.62 percent, and that its purpose was changed to management participation from simple investment, we sent a letter to ask Hanssem's management to propose a vote on the appointment of an outside director recommended by us, during the forthcoming extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, Dec. 8,” Hannuri lawyer Lim Jin-sung said.
“Because we may exercise voting rights on behalf of some minority shareholders, we also asked Hanssem's management to adopt an electronic voting system and enable us to access the list of shareholders.”
According to the lawyer, Hanssem did not reply to Teton's letter as of Monday morning. The hedge fund requested an answer by the end of Monday.
A Hanssem spokesperson said that the management will decide whether or not to give a response after reviewing the details of Teton's requests mentioned in its letter.
“If there is no response, we will file an injunction Tuesday to ask the court to order Hanssem's management to give us access to the list of shareholders,” Lim said.
Hanssem's headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Hanssem
Since Hanssem's founder decided in July to sell the controlling stake to IMM, Teton has complained about the buyer's plan to acquire the largest shareholder's stake for 220,000 won ($185) per share, without allowing other shareholders to sell their stakes at the same price.
In September, Teton filed an injunction with Suwon District Court to ask it to ban Hanssem and any affiliated persons from helping IMM conduct due diligence on the furniture maker before its takeover.
However, the court did not accept the request, because domestic laws do not mandate that the largest shareholder talk with other major shareholders before selling its controlling stake. Teton's attorney emphasized its client actions are not intended to interfere with Hanssem's management.
He added that its client also suggested that Hanssem's management retire its treasury shares to raise the stock price by reducing the amount of stocks floating on the market.