The company drama over management of Ok-pop powerhouse SM Leisure doesn’t seem like over simply but.

A takeover battle between Ok-pop big HYBE and web firm Kakao Corp for management of SM Leisure ended final month, with Kakao Corp. rising victorious.

However on Tuesday (April 18), information broke in South Korean media of a brand new twist within the saga, with SM Leisure’s headquarters in Seoul raided by the nation’s monetary regulator in connection to potential inventory value manipulation by Kakao.

As reported in Reuters, citing Korean information company Yonhap, which itself cites sources, South Korea’s Monetary Supervisory Service has been investigating Kakao Corp. for suspected manipulation of SM Leisure’s inventory value throughout its try to take management of the corporate.

As reported by KoreajoongAng Each day earlier this month, HYBE alleged in February that Kakao had purposely purchased a big quantity of SM Leisure shares to be able to ‘artificially up the inventory value’ of the latter firm with ‘the intention of constructing HYBE’s tender provide fail’.

Yonhap studies that HYBE ‘filed a petition for a probe into the case with the FSS in February’.

The raid at SM Leisure’s headquarters on Tuesday passed off lower than two weeks after regulators raided Kakao’s personal places of work as a part of the identical investigation.

Some 40 prosecutors and investigators confiscated knowledge at Kakao Corp.’s headquarters within the metropolis of Pangyo, Korea JoongAng Each day reported.

Kakao Corp. formally grew to become the largest shareholder in SM Leisure on the finish of March, after a months-long company battle in opposition to SM rival HYBE to take management of the Ok-Pop company.

Kakao and its Kakao Leisure unit boosted their stake in SM to 39.9% from the earlier 4.9% after finishing its tender provide for shares within the, based on a inventory alternate submitting on Tuesday (March 28).

“The particular judicial police on the FSS is presently within the means of investigating if the sale of SM shares is in violation of the Capital Markets Act underneath steering from the prosecution…  The staff is wanting into whether or not there was synthetic engagement to sway share costs in a sure route.

Monetary Supervisory Service of South Korea

“The particular judicial police on the FSS is presently within the means of investigating if the sale of SM shares is in violation of the Capital Markets Act underneath steering from the prosecution,” the FSS mentioned in a press release.

“The staff is wanting into whether or not there was synthetic engagement to sway share costs in a sure route.”

Right here’s a reminder of the timeline of occasions within the company battle that broke out between SM Leisure, HYBE and Kakao:

Firstly of February, South Korea-based Kakao Corp introduced a deal to amass a 9.05% stake in SM Leisure.

Additionally in February, HYBE acquired a 14.8% stake in SM Leisure for round USD $335 million, through the acquisition of shares from SM Leisure founder Lee Soo-man.

HYBE then launched a young provide to SM’s minority shareholders to purchase a further 25.2% of SM Leisure’s shares – which might have taken HYBE’s complete shareholding as much as 40%. If profitable, the transfer would have seen HYBE spend one other ≈$565 million on SM shares.

HYBE’s takeover try was strongly opposed by SM’s administration.

Kakao’s deal to purchase a 9.05% of SM in February through the acquisition of bonds and newly-issued shares was efficiently blocked by SM’s estranged founder Lee Soo-man in a Seoul court docket through an injunction.

In March, HYBE’s tender fell brief, and Kakao Corp then launched its personal tender provide for SM shareholders at the next per-share value than HYBE’s bid. Kakao was seeking to purchase as much as 35% of SM Leisure for about USD $960 million by means of the method.

This provide got here two months after Kakao secured 1.2 trillion South Korea Received (approx $966m) funding from what it mentioned had been “main sovereign wealth funds”.

HYBE formally ceased its try to amass a 40% stake in SM Leisure on March 11.

The strain between HYBE and SM Leisure seemed to be waning as not too long ago as earlier this week, when SM Leisure introduced its artists could be becoming a member of Weverse, HYBE’s superfan platform that connects artists with followers by means of content material resembling music movies, teasers, films and dwell streams.Music Enterprise Worldwide