This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 5:11 p.m. on Jul. 1, 2026.
AptN, a KOSDAQ-listed company, recently invested in the unlisted GPCR Therapeutics while simultaneously succeeding in raising a large amount of capital that exceeds its market capitalization. It invested in GPCR Therapeutics and, at the same time, brought in GPCR Therapeutics' largest shareholder as a major shareholder. Because of this, some market participants are saying that this investment structure is similar to the backdoor listing controversy in 2024.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry and the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 1st, AptN on the 25th of last month announced a 3.5 billion won third-party allotment paid-in capital increase. The subscriber is GPCR Therapeutics CEO Shin Dong-seung, and it said the proceeds of the paid-in capital increase would be used to acquire equity in GPCR Therapeutics. In effect, without any cash actually flowing in, equity is given to CEO Shin and equity in GPCR Therapeutics is acquired. And on the 26th of last month, the day after the disclosure, it additionally disclosed that it would issue convertible bonds (CBs) of 10 billion won and 15 billion won, respectively, raising a total of 27.5 billion won.
GPCR Therapeutics develops personalized anticancer drugs using GPCR heterodimers, which are known to be associated with the growth and metastasis of cancer cells. CEO Shin co-founded the company in 2013 with Heo Won-gi, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University. Its current main pipelines include a multiple myeloma treatment and an obesity treatment.
With this paid-in capital increase, AptN is expected to become a major shareholder of GPCR Therapeutics. However, the investment structure is somewhat unusual. Instead of using its own funds or attracting outside investment, GPCR Therapeutics' largest shareholder, CEO Shin, puts money into AptN, and that money is then used to acquire equity in GPCR Therapeutics. Through this capital increase, CEO Shin will receive 3.5 million AptN shares (about 15%). For AptN, issuing new shares without any cash outflow is expected to have the effect of obtaining equity in GPCR Therapeutics.
Alongside this, it is also raising funds through large convertible bonds (CBs). AptN will issue 15 billion won in CBs to Finasin Venture Investment Partnership and 10 billion won to Freejin Venture Investment Partnership, totaling 25 billion won. This is far larger than the market capitalization of 14.9 billion won as of the 24th of last month, before the disclosure. However, after the disclosure, AptN's share price has continued to rise, and as of the 1st its market cap amounts to 49.3 billion won.
Some say the structure of the paid-in capital increase and fund-raising brings to mind the past backdoor listing controversy involving GPCR Therapeutics.
Exicure Hitron, a KOSPI-listed company (then Hitron Systems), in Sep. 2024 released a 5 billion won paid-in capital increase for CEO Shin Dong-seung. At the same time, it planned to issue CBs of about 16 billion won, to be acquired by CEO Shin and co-founder Professor Heo. In addition, financial investors (FIs) carried out investments totaling hundreds of billions of won. If the paid-in capital increase and CB conversion had taken place, CEO Shin was set to become the largest shareholder of Hitron.
However, the investment plan at the time did not conclude due to intervention by the Korea Exchange (KRX). The Korea Exchange viewed it as an attempt at a backdoor listing by GPCR Therapeutics and rejected it in a substantive review. Since the plan came after GPCR Therapeutics failed to list on its own, the Korea Exchange appears to have determined it constituted a backdoor listing.
The two investment structures are similar in that CEO Shin's funds flow back to GPCR Therapeutics through another listed company. The stock movements after the announcement are also similar. In Hitron's case, after announcing the GPCR Therapeutics investment plan, it hit the upper price limit for six consecutive trading days. AptN also hit the upper limit for four consecutive trading days, including the day the investment plan was announced, and jumped 15.94% on the 1st.
An industry official said, "This investment structure is very similar to the past, and since some FIs commonly appear, it seems to have been designed with reference to the previous structure," and added, "It is true that the investment was made in a way that is not typical."
What differs from 2024 is that this investment will not change AptN's largest shareholder. On the surface, it cannot be seen as a backdoor listing. Moreover, unlike then, there are now delisting rules for penny stocks (par value under 1,000 won) and market capitalization. AptN appears able to avoid these through the GPCR Therapeutics investment.
However, some note that both AptN and GPCR Therapeutics have limited financial capacity, so there is a possibility that fund-raising using AptN could be pursued later, in which case investors should be cautious.
We contacted AptN to ask about the background and structure of the GPCR Therapeutics investment but did not receive a clear answer. An AptN official said, "The investment was made based on the management's judgment, and it is difficult to confirm the details."