The provisional injunction seeking to inspect and copy the shareholder register filed against Oscotec has been withdrawn, bringing the related legal proceedings to a close for now.
According to Oscotec on the 11th, the company provided the shareholder register to a person surnamed Choi on the 10th, and Choi withdrew all provisional injunction applications filed with the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch on the same day.
Earlier, the industry interpreted Choi's application as a move to gauge the voting power landscape ahead of the March regular shareholders meeting. Although the injunction was withdrawn, assessments followed that variables surrounding the governance structure remain.
The market sees the direction of 4,763,955 shares (12.45%) held by the late founder, adviser Kim Jeong-geun, as the biggest variable. While a plan to take out a loan using the equity as collateral to raise funds for inheritance tax has been mentioned, given the interest burden, there is also talk that some equity could be sold in the mid to long term.
Governance issues surrounding U.S. subsidiary Genosco have resurfaced. Oscotec has been pursuing a plan to make Genosco a wholly owned subsidiary. However, because Genosco director Kim Seong-yeon, the eldest son of adviser Kim, holds about 13% equity, the company has faced shareholder backlash questioning whether this is a restructuring to raise succession funds.
With a recent court ruling invalidating the articles-of-association amendment for the "supermajority voting rule" the company had adopted as a management control defense, some analyze that shareholders' influence could grow at the March shareholders meeting.