This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 4:46 p.m. on June 12, 2026.
Minority shareholders of TERA SCIENCE, which is undergoing delisting procedures, are preparing a third rehabilitation filing. Earlier in 2024, two rehabilitation filings were made but were thwarted for reasons including failure to meet requirements. The shareholder alliance, which has been alleging embezzlement and breach of trust by current management and calling for normalization of operations, sees this rehabilitation filing as effectively the last chance.
According to the capital market industry on the 12th, the TERA SCIENCE shareholder alliance is recently consolidating equity to file for rehabilitation. The target equity ratio is 10%, the threshold to apply.
TERA SCIENCE has long been mired in a management control dispute among current management, former management, and the shareholder alliance. Former management and the alliance argue that after Chairman Park Jeong-gyu of Davolink, known as the de facto owner of TERA SCIENCE, took control of the company, embezzlement and breach of trust worsened its condition. In 2023, after shares surged as a lithium theme stock and then plunged, stock manipulation suspicions were also raised.
In fact, in 2024 some shareholders filed a criminal complaint against current management over alleged embezzlement and breach of trust totaling 28.2 billion won and began legal action. During a tax audit by the Seoul Regional Tax Service last year, embezzlement by Chairman Park and other executives was identified, resulting in an additional tax assessment of about 20 billion won.
TERA SCIENCE is in the process of delisting due to continued deterioration in management, two consecutive years of disclaimed audit opinions, and the accumulation of penalty points for inaccurate disclosures. The shareholder alliance says that to save the company, a preservation order on asset disposition through rehabilitation and a sale of management control to a third party are necessary. It says sending the company into rehabilitation to effectively "freeze" cash flows is the only way to save it.
However, the two previous rehabilitation filings ended in defeat for the shareholder alliance. The first filing in June 2026 was dismissed by the court on the grounds that the company's assets exceeded its liabilities. As the financial burden was not heavy, the court found rehabilitation lacked effectiveness.
The second filing later fell through when a sudden paid-in capital increase by the company left the alliance short of eligibility to apply. In November that year, the alliance gathered about 10.15% equity and reapplied to commence rehabilitation, but about a month later, in December, a 15 billion won paid-in capital increase through a third-party allotment was carried out, reducing the alliance's equity ratio to the 9% range and leaving it short of the 10% equity required to apply.
If the alliance's new filing is submitted, the battle between current management and the shareholder alliance over rehabilitation appears set to resume for the first time in about a year and six months. The alliance believes the financial conditions needed for rehabilitation were likely met after last month's sale of the land and facilities of TERA SCIENCE's Changwon plant. As the asset was disposed of below book value, it judges that liabilities relative to assets have risen to a level requiring rehabilitation. Expectations are building that rehabilitation will be accepted, considering the anticipated decline in business continuity from the plant sale and the financial burden from currently alleged embezzlement and breach of trust.
The latest filing is expected to be the final dispute between the shareholder alliance and current management over whether to proceed with rehabilitation. If delisting procedures resume, maintaining the listing will be difficult under current conditions. With a ruling expected soon on the company's application for a preliminary injunction to suspend the effect of the delisting decision, there is no time to spare.
Contrary to the alliance's claims, current management maintains that former management, not themselves, is responsible for the deterioration in operations. They have filed a complaint accusing former management of embezzlement and breach of trust. They are also said to oppose the alliance's call for rehabilitation.
To ask about the alliance's third rehabilitation plan, we contacted TERA SCIENCE's Changwon headquarters, which replied, "The person who can answer is at the Seoul office." The Seoul office did not answer the phone.