South Korea’s Yesco Co., a city gas supplier under LS Group, will sell and buy back 1.8 million shares, 30 percent of outstanding shares until February, as a divestiture procedure to split into holding/business structure, the company announced Monday in a regulatory filing.

It proposed to buy back 1.8 million treasury shares at 45,000 won ($42) apiece, 15 percent higher than the closing price of 39,100 won last Friday. The entire load will cost the company 81 billion won.

Shares of Yesco closed Monday up 13.94 percent at 44,550 won in Seoul trading.

The buyback is designed to protect management right after spinoff.

The company will break up into a holding entity that invests in city gas operating unit. Only the holding entity will relist on the main Kospi market.

An official from the company said that the holding company transition would help it improve its governance structure to enable faster decision making for each business entity and strengthen competitiveness of operation.

Koo Ja-eun, chairman of LS Mtron and eldest son of its honorary chairman Koo Doo-hwoi, is the largest shareholder with a 13.27 percent stake. The owner family members own a total of 54.59 percent stake in Yesco.

By Chun Gyung-woon and Choi Mira

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