'Super ant' Hyung In-woo, CEO of Smart & Growth, has recently made successive large-scale investments in the bio company Ensol Biosciences, which is listed on the Konex. After participating in a capital increase of 10 billion won (1,186,370 shares) last month, he bought 550,055 shares (5.04% equity) of Ensol Biosciences from Humedix on the 6th, quickly becoming the second-largest shareholder.
As the super ant joins Ensol Biosciences, which is preparing for a transfer to the KOSDAQ, the stock price has risen over 70% in the past month.
According to the Korea Exchange on the 8th, CEO Hyung will secure a total of 1,730,692 shares of Ensol Biosciences once the capital increase payment is completed on the 24th of this month. His equity will increase significantly to 14.3%. The largest shareholder and founder, CEO Kim Hae-jin, has an equity of 17.72%. There are predictions that with CEO Hyung's increased equity, he will exercise management rights as the second-largest shareholder. However, the company believes that the expansion of CEO Hyung's equity will not shift from a simple investment purpose.
CEO Hyung, a former developer, is the brother-in-law of Kakao founder Kim Beom-soo, co-chairman of the CA Council, and rose to prominence by successfully investing early in Alteogen. He is currently the second-largest shareholder of Alteogen.
CEO Hyung's surprise investment in Ensol Biosciences is raising expectations for a successful transfer to the KOSDAQ. This timing coincides with Ensol Biosciences applying for a technology evaluation to transfer to the KOSDAQ based on technology exceptions last month.
Ensol Biosciences applied for a technology assessment last month. Typically, it takes about three months for the results to come out, so if the results are released around March, they plan to apply for preliminary examination as early as the first half of the year. There is also a possibility of entering the KOSDAQ market within this year.
Ensol Biosciences previously withdrew its application for preliminary listing on the KOSDAQ in 2023. The Korea Exchange judged the commercial viability of its technology to be insufficient, and it did not receive approval from the exchange for 10 months after the preliminary examination application.
However, in July of last year, Ensol Biosciences successfully exported its degenerative disc disease treatment (P2K) technology to Spine Bio Pharma, proving its commercial viability. This contract includes an upfront payment of $5 million (about 7.3 billion won) and a milestone technology fee totaling $150 million (21.83 billion won).
After withdrawing its KOSDAQ listing, Ensol Biosciences faced a crisis last year. Tiger Asset Management, an existing investor, exercised its early redemption rights on convertible bonds (CB) worth 3 billion won, and strategic investor Humedix, which participated in the capital increase of 5 billion won, filed a lawsuit related to a put option (the right to sell stocks or other assets at a predetermined price).
However, at the beginning of this year, CEO Hyung bought all the equity of Humedix under the same contract quantity and amount, leading to the withdrawal of the related lawsuit. The exclusive distribution agreement for the osteoarthritis treatment 'E1K' that was signed with Humedix in July 2023 was also terminated on the 2nd of this month.
Among investors, there are high expectations for a rise in stock prices. Ensol Biosciences' stock price has surged 71.4% from 12,220 won to 20,950 won in the past month. CEO Hyung purchased shares at approximately 9,231 won per share.