[이데일리 이다원 기자] Samsung Electronics (005930), which has identified robots as a future growth business, has additionally purchased a stake in Rainbow Robotics (277810), a robot development company.
According to the Electronic Disclosure System of the Financial Supervisory Service on the 16th, Samsung Electronics purchased 913,963 common shares of Rainbow Robotics over the counter the previous day (15th) at 30,400 won per share. The total amount of shares purchased is 27.78365 billion won. It has been three months since the acquisition of 1,940,200 new shares by investing a total of 58.982 billion won on January 3rd.
Therefore, Samsung Electronics’ stake in Rainbow Robotics increased from 10.22% to 14.99%.
Samsung Electronics also concluded a shareholder contract with Rainbow Robotics, including call option conditions accompanying a change in the largest shareholder. The exercise period is up to six years from the date of contract signing. In other words, the holder of the Rainbow Robotics call option acquired the right to buy all of the shares held.
The obligatory call option is the largest shareholder, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Oh Jun-ho, and Rainbow Robotics executives, including CEO Lee Jung-ho, and specially related persons, and the total number of shares they hold is 8,550,439.
If Samsung Electronics exercises the call option, Samsung Electronics can secure a 59.94% stake and become the largest shareholder. In effect, Samsung Electronics will acquire Rainbow Robotics.
If a company with assets or sales of 300 billion won or more acquires 15% or more of the shares of a listed company, it must report the business combination to the Fair Trade Commission. If a call option is exercised even for a portion of the stock, it is necessary to report the combination.
It is interpreted that Samsung Electronics, which recently selected ‘robot’ as a future growth engine business, is actively expanding its business. Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee said at the shareholders’ meeting the day before, “We will strengthen preemptive responses to the robot era that will begin in earnest in the future.” .
This year, it also came up with a plan to release the senior-specific robot ‘EX1’. The industry expects the robot to be a walking assistance robot.
This is why there is a prospect that the robot business will be launched in earnest in cooperation with Rainbow Robotics, which has multi-legged robot platform technology. Rainbow Robotics is currently developing and supplying bipedal, quadrupedal, and cooperative robots. In addition, it possesses various robot-related technologies.
Yang Seung-yoon, a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, analyzed the background of this share purchase, saying, “The main drivers are presumed to be the promotion of automation within the Samsung Group using collaborative robots owned by Rainbow Robotics and the development of robot products through technological cooperation between the two companies.”
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