This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) website at 4:13 p.m. on Jul. 27, 2026.
As the largest shareholder of Automobile & PCB, a company listed on the Korea Exchange, abruptly withdrew its planned sale of management control to prevent delisting, the market is raising suspicions that it may have opted for "intentional delisting."
Given Automobile & PCB's complicated equity structure, to sell the company and maintain its listing status, the largest shareholder would instead have to bear additional expense, whereas if it accepts delisting, it can keep its control over a lucrative subsidiary intact. Some in the industry say the conclusion was that, economically, it is more advantageous to abandon the sale and let the company be delisted than to hand it over to a new owner for normalization.
According to the capital market industry on the 27th, YSP, the largest shareholder of Automobile & PCB, recently pursued a sale of Automobile & PCB's management control but is said to have abruptly withdrawn the sale even after a potential buyer emerged.
Automobile & PCB was founded in 1977 as WOOJIN Electronics Industry and listed on the KOSPI in 1988. It mainly produces printed circuit boards (PCB) for automobiles and, after recently acquiring the seat business institutional sector from its largest shareholder YSP, is expanding into manufacturing auto components.
However, with PCB cost pressures and sluggish sales overlapping, results have remained weak for a long time. Last year, Automobile & PCB posted an operating loss of about 7.3 billion won on a consolidation basis and has been in the red for nine straight years since 2017.
Accordingly, the share price has gradually declined. Automobile & PCB traded in the mid-24,000 won range in 2016, but the price has now fallen to the low 400 won range. Its market capitalization is only 19.4 billion won, and stricter listing rules effective in July have increased the risk of delisting. Starting on the 1st, a KOSPI-listed company is designated for administrative issues if the share price stays below 1,000 won for 30 consecutive trading days or its market capitalization falls short of 30 billion won; if it then fails to recover the criteria for 45 consecutive trading days within the following 90 trading days, it is delisted.
The sale of Automobile & PCB's management control was pursued to prevent delisting. YSP and its related parties had planned to sell about 50% of Automobile & PCB's management-control equity for 10 billion won. If the new owner met listing standards through a third-party paid-in capital increase or a capital reduction, the listing could be maintained.
In fact, a bidder appeared and even discussed terms, and the sale process proceeded smoothly, but the sale of Automobile & PCB's management control was abruptly withdrawn. It is understood that no other buyer offered better terms.
In the industry, suspicions are being raised that Automobile & PCB's largest shareholder scrapped the sale of management control aimed at preventing delisting and effectively decided to leave the delisting unchecked. Behind these suspicions is a unique equity structure involving Automobile & PCB and group affiliate Yongsan.
The largest shareholder of Automobile & PCB is YSP, which holds a 12.12% voting equity stake. In reality, however, unlisted affiliate Yongsan, part of the Automobile & PCB group, holds more equity than YSP—34.62%, more than twice Automobile & PCB's stake.
However, because Automobile & PCB also is the largest shareholder of Yongsan with about 40% equity, the two companies are subject to "cross-shareholding voting-right restrictions" as each other's largest shareholder. In other words, even though Yongsan is the largest shareholder holding the most equity in Automobile & PCB, it has no voting rights and remains a "special related party of the largest shareholder."
Due to this equity structure, early negotiations to sell Automobile & PCB's management control included a condition that "YSP would acquire about 40% equity in Yongsan held by Automobile & PCB." If Automobile & PCB were to be transferred to a new owner, the position of Yongsan's largest shareholder would effectively pass to the acquirer, potentially undermining YSP's control over Yongsan.
Yongsan is a first-tier supplier to Hyundai Motor and Kia, producing interior components including automobile seat covers. It is considered a lucrative company within the group, recording 17.6 billion won in operating profit last year. From YSP's standpoint, relinquishing ownership of Yongsan is not an option.
For YSP to acquire Yongsan equity from Automobile & PCB, about 36 billion won is needed. Excluding 23.8 billion won in borrowing fund and convertible bond (CB) investment that Automobile & PCB must repay to Yongsan, the amount YSP would effectively pay to Automobile & PCB is 12.2 billion won. Even considering the 10 billion won in proceeds from selling the management-control equity of Automobile & PCB, YSP would ultimately have to pay an additional 2.2 billion won to sell the company.
A source in the capital market industry said, "YSP appears to have re-run the numbers during the sale process and realized the structure offered them no advantage, so they canceled the sale," adding, "If they instead leave Automobile & PCB to be delisted, they can maintain control over the lucrative Yongsan without any significant cash expenditure."
However, Automobile & PCB has not provided any position on plans after the canceled sale. If Automobile & PCB's share price stays where it is, the chances are very high that it will be placed under administrative issues in mid-next month.
ChosunBiz contacted Automobile & PCB to ask about the reasons for canceling the sale and future plans, but received the reply, "The person in charge is not available, so we cannot respond."