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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] NXC, the holding company of the Nexon group, announced that it will repurchase a portion of shares held by the government that were previously paid in kind as inheritance tax by the family of late founder Kim Jung-ju.
In a regulatory filing on May 11, NXC said it will acquire 184,001 shares—equivalent to 6.68% of its total outstanding shares—from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The purchase price is set at KRW 5.558 million per share, bringing the total transaction value to approximately KRW 1.02 trillion.
The transaction was conducted in a manner that provided all shareholders with an equal opportunity to sell their shares. In this process, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, NXC’s second-largest shareholder, expressed its intent to participate and submitted a share transfer application.
The government’s stake in NXC originated from shares contributed in kind by the bereaved family of the late founder as part of inheritance tax payments. NXC plans to retire all treasury shares acquired through this transaction within June.
Following the deal, the government’s ownership stake will decrease from 30.64% to 23.96%. However, once the share cancellation is completed in June and the total number of outstanding shares is reduced, the government’s stake will be adjusted to 25.68%.
The transaction is considered meaningful as it resolves part of the government’s overhang of NXC shares through a share buyback, after previous attempts to sell the stake faced challenges.
Earlier, the government had attempted to divest its NXC stake via the Korea Asset Management Corporation, but the sale failed due to a lack of bidders. Market observers noted that concerns over the difficulty of securing management control through the stake may have weighed on investor interest.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
