The management rights dispute involving the founder's family, including mothers and brothers, which has been ongoing for nearly a year, has reached a new phase. As fractures are detected within the brother alliance, a four-person coalition from the mother side, who defended the management rights of Hanmi Pharmaceutical, is expected to challenge the brothers' control over Hanmi Science.
On the 19th, the proposed dismissal of Park Jae-hyun, the representative of Hanmi Pharmaceutical, and Shin Dong-guk, a director at Hanmi Pharmaceutical (chairman of Hanyang Precision), was rejected at the Hanmi Pharmaceutical extraordinary shareholders' meeting. This was a proposal made by the brother faction at Hanmi Science, indicating that the brothers' plans have failed.
The market and industry are paying close attention to the actions of the eldest son, Lim Jong-yoon, a director at Hanmi Science, around the time of the shareholders' meeting. It is known that Director Lim recently proposed a conversation with mother, Song Young-sook, chairwoman of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group, and Lim Joo-hyun, vice chair of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group. Last month, he reported his mother, Chairwoman Song Young-sook, and professional manager Park Jae-hyun, the representative of Hanmi Pharmaceutical, for breach of trust but suddenly showed signs of reconciliation.
According to industry sources, Director Lim is understood to want management rights of the Hanmi Pharmaceutical subsidiary, Beijing Hanmi Pharmaceutical, as a condition to conclude the dispute. Lim's personal company, Kori Group, is responsible for the distribution of Chinese pharmaceuticals for Beijing Hanmi Pharmaceutical. There are interpretations that the brotherly relationship, which had been united with Lim Jong-hoon, the representative of Hanmi Science, has begun to fracture. However, it remains uncertain whether negotiations will occur between the four-person coalition and Director Lim at this time.
Currently, Director Lim is in the most urgent and precarious situation. Initially, his plan had envisioned that his brother would take on the role of representative for the holding company Hanmi Science, while he would lead the key company, but only his brother is now in the position of representative for Hanmi Science.
The weight of inheritance tax and equity collateral is reportedly the heaviest among the founder's family. Recently, Hanmi Science's stock price has fallen below 30,000 won. The closing price the day before was 30,200 won. The 30,000 won mark is viewed as a boundary that determines whether a margin call (additional collateral demand) will be issued under the equity collateral loan contract held by the owner family. According to industry sources, it is estimated that Director Lim Jong-yoon faced forced selling because he was unable to secure repayment funds for equity collateral loan contracts with Korea Securities Finance and Mirae Asset Securities, which expired on the 28th of last month and the 3rd of this month, respectively.
Earlier, Director Lim had also proposed to withdraw the extraordinary shareholders' meeting of Hanmi Pharmaceutical. Shortly after the National Pension Service's 'no' decision on the extraordinary shareholders' meeting agenda was made public on the 13th, he distributed a statement to the media suggesting that 'responsible discussions with all shareholders, including major shareholders, are urgent to prevent the prolonged management rights dispute and ensure the company's future.' He later retracted this proposal.
The industry believes that the four-person coalition from the mother side will attempt to regain control of Hanmi Science. At last month's extraordinary shareholders' meeting of Hanmi Science, a proposal by the four-person coalition to expand the board of directors was rejected, resulting in a tie between the brothers and the mothers on the board at a 5 to 5 ratio. However, at that time, the largest individual shareholder, Shin Dong-guk, the chairman of Hanyang Precision, succeeded in entering the board of directors. The entry of eldest daughter Lim Joo-hyun into the board was unsuccessful because the proposed agenda was automatically discarded, although it was initially expected that Chairman Shin would first join the board.
Accordingly, there are expectations that Chairman Shin will lead the four-person coalition to restructure the Hanmi Science board of directors, dismiss Lim Jong-hoon as representative, and establish a professional managerial system for the holding company. Moreover, the four-person coalition, having acquired nearly 49% of voting rights by purchasing shares over time, believes it has a chance of success at the regular shareholders' meeting of Hanmi Science scheduled for March next year.
Earlier, in order to raise funds for inheritance tax and equity collateral loan repayment, Lim Jong-hoon, the representative, sold 1.05 million shares of Hanmi Science he held in an off-market transaction to an overseas hedge fund operator on the 15th of last month, reducing his equity stake in Hanmi Science from 9.27% to 7.85%. In contrast, during this period, the private equity fund operator, Ridefan Partners, which joined hands with his mother and sister, purchased 1.39% equity from overseas institutional investors, increasing its stake to 5.09%. It is presumed that the overseas operator that bought the shares Lim sold resold them to Ridefan Partners.
However, it is expected that Lim will not easily relinquish control of Hanmi Science, and disruptions within the group are likely to continue for the time being. According to Hanmi Pharmaceutical, the brothers and Hanmi Science have filed a total of eight lawsuits against Girlfriend Mama Song Young-sook and Park Jae-hyun. In response, Hanmi Pharmaceutical has counterclaimed, asserting that Hanmi Science, represented by Lim, is inappropriately controlling Hanmi Pharmaceutical's payment and personnel systems, thus hindering its operations.
Lim Jong-hoon, the representative of Hanmi Science, stated shortly after the extraordinary shareholders' meeting, 'I respect shareholders' opinions,' but added, 'As the representative of the holding company, I will demonstrate leadership to guide the group in the right direction.'
Park Jae-hyun, the representative of Hanmi Pharmaceutical, said, 'I have felt a great deal of remorse toward employees and shareholders during this time. Moving forward, I want to focus entirely on the company's development rather than engaging in such fruitless conflicts.' Park emphasized, 'Despite the family disputes, Hanmi Pharmaceutical's performance has been strong, and its R&D capabilities remain robust,' adding, 'We will continue to strengthen our pipeline and advance the company.'