이 기사는 2021년 11월 17일 08시05분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Seoul-based private equity firm Hahn & Co continues to put pressure on Namyang Dairy Products as it aims to speed up the main case it filed against Namyang Dairy chairman Hong Won-sik.

Hahn & Co submitted an application to the Seoul Central District Court through local law firm Yoon & Yang for the designation of a trial date for the ongoing main lawsuit it brought against Hong over his failure to fulfill the agreed terms of the deal, said legal sources on Monday.

The PE firm gained an upper hand in its legal battle against Namyang Dairy after the Seoul Central District Court accepted its injunction request to disallow the Namyang owner’s family from exercising voting rights last month.

After the ruling, market insiders expect the main lawsuit will proceed at a speedy pace. Legal experts initially expected the lawsuit filed by Hahn & Co to take at least 2-3 years to reach a conclusion.

The Seoul Central District Court has accepted the latest request filed by the PE firm and set December 2 as the start date for the trial. The court also notified defendants, including Hong, that the first trial date has been set.

Hong has not hired his legal representative for the main case yet. The parties involved in the lawsuit are Chairman Hong, his wife Lee Woon-kyung, and grandson Hong Seung-eui. As Hong Seung-eui is a minor, his father Hong Jin-seok, managing director at Namyang Dairy, and his mother have been included as legal representatives.

Legal experts are paying keen attention to which law firm will represent the Hong family. Chairman Hong received legal advice from LKB& Partners when he unveiled his statement in August after having kept silent for two weeks following his abrupt decision to postpone an extraordinary shareholders meeting and delay the sale of his shares to Hahn & Co. (Reporting by Gyoung-tae Kim)