This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 4:07 p.m. on Aug. 25, 2026.
KOSDAQ-listed MOAdata(288980) and its largest shareholder, CEO Han Sang-jin, are simultaneously under pressure to repay debt. With MOAdata falling into arrears after failing to repay about 4.8 billion won in loan principal and interest borrowed from a financial institution, shares of MOAdata that Han pledged as collateral when borrowing money personally were liquidated through forced selling. As the company's liquidity worsens and a large chunk of the largest shareholder's equity floods the market, investor concerns are growing.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 25th, MOAdata said on the 24th that Han's holdings fell to 2,911,017 shares from 7,224,517 shares due to forced selling. As a result, Han's equity ratio also declined to 8.00% from 19.86%.
The shares forcibly sold this time were those Han pledged as collateral when borrowing funds personally. In June, Han provided 4,313,500 MOAdata shares as collateral to Dynamic Service and borrowed 2 billion won.
This is not the first time Han's equity has been forcibly sold. As MOAdata's share price plunged from the 800-won range to the 500-won range on the 20th, two rounds of forced selling had already occurred.
On the 20th, as shares pledged as collateral to an individual creditor were forcibly sold, Han's holdings fell to 7,648,391 shares from 8,055,913 shares. On the 21st, shares pledged to the individual creditor and Dynamic Service were also forcibly sold, reducing the remaining shares to 7,224,517.
In the three trading days from the 20th to the 24th of this month, Han's holdings shrank by as many as 5,144,896 shares, to 2,911,017 from 8,055,913. Accordingly, the equity ratio contracted to near one-third, to 8% from 22.14%.
Not only the largest shareholder's personal debt but the company also is failing to repay its borrowings on time. MOAdata disclosed on the 21st that principal and interest on loans from Sangsangin Savings Bank had fallen into arrears. After borrowing 4.5 billion won and 2.2 billion won in January and April this year, respectively, and repaying 1.7 billion won and 200 million won, respectively, it still did not repay the full principal and interest despite one maturity extension. Ultimately, as it failed to repay by the 20th, 4.823 billion won in principal and 17.05 million won in interest, totaling 4.84006 billion won, an event of default (EOD) occurred.
With this EOD and the largest shareholder's forced selling, the likelihood has grown that MOAdata's management control will be shaken again.
To start, there remains the possibility of additional forced selling of Han's holdings. After this round of forced selling, most of Han's remaining MOAdata shares are also pledged as collateral to another creditor, Seed Financial, and to an individual. For Seed Financial, the loan is about 500 million won with a collateral maintenance ratio of 102%, and for the individual creditor, the loan is about 1.2 billion won with a collateral maintenance ratio of 155%. The collateral maintenance prices, taking this into account, are 567 won and 975 won, respectively. Given that the recent share price has fallen into the 200-won range, it is hard to rule out further exercises of collateral rights.
If all those collateral rights are exercised, Han's remaining MOAdata equity would shrink from the 8% range to 0.12%. However, if Han repays the debt or provides additional collateral and changes the contract terms with the creditors, whether the collateral rights are actually exercised could change.
Equity held by Shin Seung-hwan, a related party of Han and a MOAdata vice president, is also at risk of being disposed of. As MOAdata borrowed funds from Sangsangin Savings Bank, 3.4 million of Shin's 3,410,400 MOAdata shares were pledged as collateral. If those collateral rights are exercised, even about 9% of the friendly equity on the largest shareholder's side could be lost.
Industry officials warn that, given MOAdata's financial condition, it will not be easy to resolve the debt issues. As of the end of June, MOAdata's cash and cash equivalents stood at 2.6021 billion won, only about half of the 4.8 billion won in principal and interest in arrears this time. Current liabilities, including repayment of short-term borrowings and bond redemption, also amount to 64.7 billion won.
An industry source said, "Operating results continue to be in the red, so without separate funding, it will likely be difficult to resolve the debt issues," and added, "The 2 billion won rights offering currently underway will be hard to solve it."