Celltrion Holdings, the holding company of Celltrion Group, said on the 10th it will buy additional Celltrion shares worth about 338.2 billion won.
After Celltrion Holdings released a plan in July to buy Celltrion shares to improve profitability and raise the corporate value of subsidiaries, it purchased about 535.9 billion won of Celltrion shares through last month. Including the newly announced amount, Celltrion Holdings' Celltrion share purchases this year total 874.1 billion won.
The group said the move was based on the judgment that Celltrion's stock price is significantly undervalued. Celltrion Holdings said it plans to "actively work to secure profitability, including expanding revenue expected through increased equity, as well as enhance shareholder value through bold investment in subsidiaries that are excessively undervalued."
A group official said, "Because temporary profit pressure factors that arose during the merger process are reflected through the third quarter of this year and are expected to be mostly resolved, this acquisition is expected to be effectively the final step." The official added, "However, if market volatility grows excessively or abnormal short-selling persists, we will keep open the possibility of additional purchases and review them flexibly."