2023-07-20 11:48:53
Wonik IPS continues to buy APTC shares in the market from May
It has been found that Wonik IPS, a comprehensive semiconductor display equipment company within the Wonik Group, is secretly, steadily, and buying large quantities of shares of APTCT, an etching equipment company, in the market. Analysts say that Wonik IPS may be buying shares in the market to conduct a hostile M&A of APTC.
According to the financial investment industry on the 20th, Wonik IPS is buying shares of APTC through the windows of multiple securities companies. It has been confirmed that the buying trend that started in May has continued until recently. The total number of APTC shares Wonik IPS bought is not known clearly. However, if this buying trend continues, an official familiar with the matter explains that a disclosure obligation (more than 5%) may occur sooner or later. However, if methods such as trusts are used, there is a possibility that Wonik IPS may not be revealed even if a stake of 5% or more is acquired.
The clear reason why Wonik IPS is buying APTC shares in the market has not been revealed. Until now, it was found that Wonik Group affiliates, including Wonik IPS, had never purchased stocks of other companies in the market. Considering the recent situation around APTC, there is an analysis that it is not an behind-the-scenes operation for a hostile M&A.
Currently, APTC is classified as a company with a ‘management rights dispute’ due to several lawsuits filed by former CEO Kim Nam-heon. Mr. Kim’s side filed a lawsuit once morest APTC to invalidate the issuance of new stocks, and applied for provisional injunctions such as perusal of accounting books and copying. Mr. Kim also signed a stock sale advisory contract with Samsung Securities in the second half of last year. This is a contract to sell all of the shares owned by the principal.
In the financial investment industry, it is observed that if Wonik IPS signed a transaction contract with Mr. Kim in advance and chose the ‘market purchase’ method as a follow-up work, APTC might be driven into a sharp management rights dispute in the future.
APTC’s former CEO Kim Nam-heon and his specially related person hold a total stake of 13.4%. CEO Choi Woo-hyung, who is currently exercising management rights, owns a slightly higher stake than 9%, but it is said that stocks held by a number of large shareholders, including internal executives and employees, are CEO Choi’s friendly stake.
Wonik IPS, which focuses on deposition equipment, tried to commercialize semiconductor etching equipment several times in the past, but failed. APTC’s main client is SK Hynix. Most of its sales come from SK Hynix. In particular, the company’s metal etching equipment has a 90% market share in SK Hynix. Wonik Group generally has a solid business relationship with Samsung Electronics. Samsung Electronics relies on Applied Materials in the US for 90% of its metal etching equipment. Samsung even asked a domestic equipment company to develop it to reduce this dependence, but commercialization is said to be far off. If Wonik has an etching equipment business, it can become a more powerful equipment company. In this regard, Wonik IPS appointed Ahn Tae-hyeok, who oversaw the etching process at Samsung Electronics, as the president of the semiconductor business a year ago.
In order to hear the position of Wonik IPS, this paper tried to contact Lee Hyeon-deok, CEO of Wonik IPS, several times, including text messages and phone calls, but was unable to reach him. An APTC official said, “We do not know the details of individual traders’ stock trading trends.”
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