이 기사는 2021년 09월 08일 08:01 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Investors in Kyobo Life Insurance is likely to take another legal action against its chairman, Shin Chang-jae, after the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ruling that freed him from having to buy back shares in the company at a high price but endorsed the validity of a put option exercised by the investors.

The ICC Court of Arbitration issued a ruling Monday on the dispute between the chairman of South Korean insurance provider and its financial investors. After the ruling, both sides claimed that they won the arbitration case.

Kyobo Life said in a statement that the court sided with Shin, ruling that he does not have an obligation to buy back shares at 409,000 won ($353) apiece, the price calculated by the investor consortium. The statement also said that the court did not accept the investors’ argument that Shin violated a provision in the shareholder agreement that he will make his best effort to take the company public.

However at the same time, the ruling was in favor of the investor consortium – which includes Affinity Equity Partners, IMM Private Equity, Baring Private Equity Asia and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC – as the court ruled that it was valid for the investors to exercise the put option.

From an overall perspective, the court gave a partial victory to both sides, industry watchers said.

Based on the ICC ruling and with a focus on exiting the investment, the investors will likely consider their next legal action such as filing a new case in a South Korean court to force Shin to fulfill the contract, industry watchers said.

Shin has been reluctant to acknowledge his obligation with respect to the put option itself and this was one of the factors that exacerbated the dispute between the two sides. Now with the ruling by the ICC, the valuation of Kyobo Life shares could become the focus of the legal battle.

Under the agreement between Shin and the investors, the two sides can separately value shares in the company with the help of advisers of their respective choices. In case they disagree on the stock price, they can hire a third-party adviser to find an agreeable price. Shin, however, has not even carried out a valuation of the company’s shares.

The investor consortium in 2012 acquired a minority stake in Kyobo Life with a put option enabling them to sell their holdings to Shin if the company failed to go public by 2015.

The initial public offering did not happen in the specified period, prompting the investors to exercise the put option in October 2018 to sell their stakes back to Shin at 409,000 won per share. Shin refused to buy back shares, leading to the dispute that has been ongoing for the past three years. (Reporting by Gyoung-tae Kim)