It appears Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, did not accept the remand trial ruling on property division ordering him to pay 944 billion won in cash to Roh Soh-yeong, director of Art Center Nabi, due to differences between the two sides over the specific payment method.
Chey's side proposed splitting the payment into cash and stock, but Roh's side was said to have wanted the entire amount in cash.
If Chey fails to carry out the property division amount even after the ruling is finalized, he faces a situation in which he must bear delay interest equivalent to 130 million won per day. Some say Chey had no choice but to file a further appeal to secure time to raise cash.
According to legal sources, Chey's side was also said to have considered accepting the remand trial ruling issued on the 24th of last month and ending the lawsuit that had continued for more than nine years.
However, it is reported that he encountered difficulties in the process of raising 944 billion won in cash during the roughly three weeks up to the 14th, the deadline for a further appeal.
Chey reviewed a plan to dispose of part of his SK(034730) shares. However, it is understood he was concerned about the negative impact on the share price and the group's governance structure if a major shareholder of the group sold a large volume of shares in a short period.
Accordingly, Chey's side was said to have presented a plan to Roh's side to pay the property division money with a mix of cash and stock.
It was reported they proposed terms under which Chey's side would make up any shortfall if the share price fell, and would not separately claim any increased portion even if the price rose.
But Roh's side conveyed an intention to receive the full amount in cash only, as ordered in the remand trial ruling.
Facing a situation where he would have to pay 5% annual delay interest starting the day after the ruling is finalized, Chey is seen as having secured time to both avoid the interest burden through a further appeal and look into additional practical ways to comply.
Chey's legal team disclosed the filing of the further appeal by issuing a statement at about 11:59 p.m. on the 14th, one minute before the deadline.
In legal circles, it is believed that if Chey contests the entire 944 billion won, the filing fee alone accompanying the further appeal would amount to several billion won.
Chey's side is expected to argue at the final appeal stage that there were legal misunderstandings in the remand trial's calculation of the property division ratio and amount.
In the remand trial, the reference date for valuing Chey's SK shares was set as Apr. 16, 2024, the date the fact-finding trial (appeal trial) in the divorce case concluded arguments.
Earlier, Roh argued that the reference should be the remand trial's argument-closure date, on June 26, but the court did not accept that. However, it reflected in calculating the property division ratio the situation in which the share price more than quintupled between the two dates, from 160,000 won to 858,000 won. The result acknowledges that Roh contributed to some extent to SK Group's growth and increase in corporate value.
The determined property division ratio is 33.3% for Roh and 66.6% for Chey. Roh was even assessed to have held her ground, as the level is about 1.7 percentage points lower than the appeal trial's ratio of 35%.
By contrast, Chey's side may argue that reflecting share price movements after the reference date in the division ratio is contradictory. It is also expected to draw attention that SK's share price has recently fallen by more than 30% to the 500,000-won range compared with the remand trial's argument-closure date.