Tongyang Life Insurance will hold a shareholder meeting to explain the background of the comprehensive stock exchange with Woori Financial Group. As shareholder dissatisfaction with the stock exchange continued even after a meeting held last month, it is seen as a renewed attempt to persuade them.
Tongyang Life Insurance said in a filing on the 12th that it will hold a meeting on the 22nd to improve shareholders' understanding of the comprehensive stock exchange with Woori Financial Group. Tongyang Life Insurance said, "We seek to fully gather the opinions of Tongyang Life Insurance shareholders on the comprehensive exchange of stocks between Woori Financial Group and Tongyang Life Insurance," and "Officials from Woori Financial Group will also attend the shareholder meeting to communicate directly with Tongyang Life Insurance shareholders."
Currently, minority shareholders of Tongyang Life Insurance argue that the company's corporate value was not fully reflected in the process of calculating the stock exchange ratio between Woori Financial Group and Tongyang Life Insurance. They are preparing to file for a court injunction to block the new share issuance that Woori Financial Group is pursuing for the stock exchange, while continuously submitting related complaints to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on the 26th of last month demanded corrections to, and suspended the effectiveness of, the securities registration statement (comprehensive stock exchange and transfer) submitted by Woori Financial Group. It said key items were not clearly stated and could hinder investors' reasonable investment decisions.
Woori Financial Group on Apr. 24 disclosed that its board decided on a comprehensive exchange of stocks with Tongyang Life Insurance. Woori Financial Group currently holds a 75.34% equity stake in Tongyang Life Insurance, and the stock exchange ratio is 0.2521056 share of Woori Financial Group common stock for each 1 share of Tongyang Life Insurance. The exchange prices were set at 34,589 won for Woori Financial Group and 8,720 won for Tongyang Life Insurance.
The total number of new shares to be issued by Woori Financial Group is 8,696,875, equivalent to 1.19% of the 727,806,728 shares outstanding excluding treasury shares. Woori Financial Group plans a board meeting on Jul. 24, and Tongyang Life Insurance plans an extraordinary shareholders meeting, with the stock exchange to be completed on Aug. 11.
An official at Woori Financial Group said, "Before filing the correction to the securities registration statement, we will additionally hold a Tongyang Life Insurance shareholder meeting to proceed with the procedures based on mutual understanding with Tongyang Life Insurance shareholders regarding this comprehensive stock exchange."