This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 8:50 a.m. on Jan. 9, 2026.
Global private equity fund (PEF) manager Anchor Equity Partners (hereinafter Anchor) lost a lawsuit filed to recover an investment of about 200 billion won from Line Games, and has appealed to the Seoul High Court. (Related article☞[Exclusive] "Return the investment and interest of 223.5 billion won" Anchor PE sued Line Games and lost)
The appellate panel is expected to again examine whether Line Games breached the contract as Anchor claims. Anchor has argued that Line Games violated a noncompete clause and caused damage, and that it would exercise a put option (the right to sell an asset such as stock at a fixed price) to get back the principal and interest.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry and according to legal sources, Anchor PE's special purpose company (SPC) Lungo Entertainment filed a notice of appeal with the Seoul High Court on the 2nd.
On Dec. 11 last year, the Seoul Central District Court ruled against the plaintiff in the first trial of a stock purchase price claim that Anchor filed against Line Games in Jan. 2024. Lee & Ko represented the winning party, Line Games, and BAE, KIM & LEE LLC represented Anchor.
Line Games was established in 2017 with 100% investment from Line Corporation. Currently, the largest shareholder is subsidiary "Z Intermediate Global" of LY Corporation (a joint venture between Naver and SoftBank), with 35.66% equity, and the second-largest shareholder is Anchor with 21.42% equity. Anchor invested a total of 125 billion won in Line Games in 2018.
Line Games later selected Samsung Securities as lead manager in 2022 and pursued an initial public offering (IPO), but the listing fell through after posting losses. In Jan. 2024, Anchor filed a stock purchase price claim against Line Games. It said it would exercise a put option to recover the principal and interest.
Anchor demanded the return of a total of 223.5 billion won by adding interest applying a penalty to the investment principal of 125 billion won. It is estimated that an internal rate of return (IRR) of about 10% was applied.
Anchor's basis for saying it would exercise the put option was Line Games' "breach of contract." The defendant said Anchor filed suit after seeking grounds to exercise the put option as Line Games' performance deteriorated.
According to the industry, the shareholders' agreement between Line Games and Anchor includes a type of noncompete clause. It said games serviced by Line Games and games serviced by a Line Games affiliate (Company A) are similar to each other and must not be in a competitive relationship.
Line Games is said to have argued that the game at the center of the "noncompete" controversy is a casual game (a game anyone can easily enjoy), not a core game (a high-difficulty, deep game). If it is a core game, investment size is large and monetization is heavy, which lends weight to the claim that Company A caused losses to Line Games and its shareholder Anchor. In contrast, if it is a casual game, the logic that a direct competitive relationship exists between the two games is weaker.