Korea Zinc said that it held a regular board meeting on Wednesday and resolved to actively pursue shareholder value enhancement policies, including the cancellation of treasury shares and a stock split.
Korea Zinc will cancel 246,665 shares (51.4% of total treasury shares) out of the 479,737 treasury shares it currently holds as of January next year. The remaining 233,072 treasury shares (48.6%) will be utilized for employee compensation and other purposes over the next 10 years.
In response to its management control dispute with MBK Partners and Youngpoong, Korea Zinc acquired treasury shares in October 2024 and subsequently canceled all of them in three separate instances during the following year, 2025. This was done to fulfill the promise made to shareholders at the time of the announcement of the public tender offer for treasury shares.
Additionally, Korea Zinc has decided to submit the relevant agenda item to its regular general meeting of shareholders in March next year in order to proceed with the stock split that the company had previously pursued. Specific details, such as the split ratio and reference date, are scheduled to be approved at a board meeting convened before next year's regular general meeting.
The stock split, which the company initially pursued as part of its shareholder-friendly policies, was passed at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in January last year.
However, subsequent procedures were halted due to applications for injunctions to suspend the effect of the extraordinary general meeting and the filing of main suit litigation by Korea Enterprise Investment Holdings (a special purpose vehicle of MBK Partners) and Youngpoong.
Korea Zinc has determined a dividend per share of 5,000 won for the third quarter of this year. The record date is Nov. 29, with payment to be made in early next month. With this decision, it will pay a dividend of 5,000 won per share each quarter from the first to the third quarter of this year. This amounts to a total distribution of 305.9 billion won to shareholders over the three quarters.
A Korea Zinc official said, "As consensus has grown on the necessity to enhance investor accessibility and expand stock liquidity to improve shareholder value, we have decided to reinitiate the stock split this time."
The official added, "We will continue to pursue our shareholder return policy while strengthening our core business competitiveness and future growth drivers, so that the results of increased corporate valuation can be returned to shareholders."
in INDUSTRY
