Korea Zinc/Courtesy of News1

As signs emerged that the management rights dispute was coming to an end, the stock price of Korea Zinc, which had exceeded 2 million won, has fallen below 1 million won.

On the morning of the 20th, Korea Zinc's stock price recorded 990,000 won. Although it slightly recovered some of the losses in the afternoon, it was still trading at 1,001,000 won, down 6.10% from the previous day.

Even after the public offering ended, Korea Zinc's stock price continued to rise as neither the current management nor private equity firm MBK Partners gained a decisive victory. Thanks to this, it recorded 2,407,000 won during trading on the 6th, which is five times higher than the closing price of 556,000 won on September 12, before the management rights dispute heated up.

The drop of Korea Zinc's stock price below 1 million won on this day marked the first time in 23 days since the 27th of last month. The stock price decline appears to be related to the closure date of the shareholder register for the extraordinary shareholders' meeting. The extraordinary shareholders' meeting is set to be held on the 23rd of next month, and to exercise rights as a shareholder, stocks had to be purchased by the 18th of this month.

In other words, since the shareholder register closure date has passed, the market's expectation that the current management or MBK Partners would buy Korea Zinc stocks at a high price diminished, leading to the stock price decline.

MBK Partners steadily purchased Korea Zinc stocks until the 18th of this month. According to disclosures, Korea Corporate Investment Holdings, a special purpose corporation of MBK Partners, acquired 234,451 shares in the market from the 12th to the 18th of this month. The purchase price ranged from 914,850 won to 1,942,594 won.

MBK Partners announced that it secured a 40.97% equity stake in Korea Zinc. The current management, led by Chairman Choi Yun-bum, is reported to hold about 35% equity. Since neither side in the ongoing conflict holds a majority stake, it is expected that the outcome of the extraordinary shareholders' meeting will be determined by the National Pension Service, which holds 7.48% equity.