KOSDAQ-listed SMEC was strong early on the 3rd. The move is seen as stemming from news that Chief Executive Choi Young-seop increased his stake by purchasing SMEC shares on the market the previous day.
As of 9:22 a.m. that day, SMEC was trading at 6,600 won, up 940 won (16.61%) from the previous session.
SMEC said on the 2nd that Choi bought 680,000 of the company's shares (0.99%) on the market, expanding his equity stake to 10.74%. Two persons in a special relationship also bought shares on the market, 0.53% (361,400 shares) and 0.59% (403,930 shares), respectively, raising the Choi side's equity to 11.87%.
This equity purchase is seen as a move by the existing management to strengthen its influence after SNT Holdings expanded its stake and declared its participation in management.
On the 24th of last month, SNT Holdings acquired an additional 5.46% equity in SMEC (about 3.72 million shares), becoming SMEC's largest shareholder with 14.74% (about 10.05 million shares). It also changed the purpose of its stake from "simple investment" to "a purpose to influence management control."