Osstem Implant case forwarded to KRX's corporate evaluation committee

Osstem Implant headquarters in western Seoul / Yonhap

By Anna J. Park

The stock trading suspension on Osstem Implant will not be lifted for the time being, as the country's bourse operator Korea Exchange (KRX) opted to send the case for further deliberation to decide whether the company should be delisted from the Kosdaq market.

Osstem Implant CEO Um Tae-kwan / Courtesy of Osstem Implant

Trading stocks of the country's top dental implant materials manufacturer has been suspended since Jan. 3, as the company disclosed that an employee had embezzled some 221 billion won ($184 million) of company money.

Since the suspension, the KRX has been looking into the case to determine whether it should be sent to the bourse operator's corporate evaluation committee for further deliberation regarding the matter of delisting.

“Within the next 20 days from the notice date of the decision, the KRX's corporate evaluation committee will make a decision on whether the company should be delisted or instead given a grace period to improve its status,” the KRX's official statement on the matter said.

The deadline of 20 business days will fall on March 21. Yet, if the company submits reports to the bourse operator by March 14 on how to improve the situation, the deadline for the corporate evaluation committee's decision will be prolonged another 20 days from the submission date.

As the KRX decided to forward the case to its corporate evaluation committee for the additional assessment, the ball is now in its court. If the committee concludes that the company should be delisted, then the matter will be sent to the Kosdaq market committee, another decision-making body of the KRX, for further deliberation.

The employee accused of embezzlement was arrested a month ago and has been investigated by the police.