Shares of Samsung BioLogics Co. plunged more than 22 percent on Monday, two days before the country’s financial regulator announces its final decision on the company’s alleged accounting irregularities, which could delist its stocks.

Shares of the biopharmaceutical business arm of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group plummeted 22.42 percent to close at 285,500 won ($250.9) on Monday, the largest fall since the company debuted on the country’s main stock market in 2016. Shares even touched to a new 52-week low of 281,000 won briefly during the session. The massive selloff led the company lose 5.4 trillion won in market value on Monday to 18.9 trillion won, pushing its market cap to rank 13th largest, down nine notches from fourth on the previous trading session.

Shares of Samsung C&T Corp., the largest shareholder of Samsung BioLogics, also fell 2.86 percent to close at 102,000 won.

The plunge in shares comes amid growing fears that Samsung BioLogics could be delisted from the country’s main Kospi index if the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the auditing and decision-assisting arm of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), on Wednesday concludes that the company intentionally breached accounting rules and determine its disciplinary actions.

Samsung BioLogics - founded in 2011 - is suspected that it had breached accounting standards in 2015 to inflate its net profit ahead of going public. Its valuation of Samsung Bioepis, a joint venture it set up with U.S. biotech Biogen, jumped 18 times in 2015 as a result of accounting changes and Samsung BioLogics that had logged losses since its founding suddenly swung to a net profit of 1.9 trillion won following the changes.

SFC in July withheld judgement on fraudulent accounting practices as claimed by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and ordered the financial watchdog to take a second look. After the second review, FSS maintained its initial position and issued a preliminary notice to Samsung BioLogics last month. In the preliminary notice, FSS is said to have recommended referring the case to prosecutors for further investigation and slap heavy penalties of sacking the company’s CEO and fining up to 6 billion won. Based on the FSS recommendation, SFC on Wednesday will determine its punishment, which will be finalized by the FSC in December.

If the SFC conforms to the FSS’s final finding that Samsung BioLogics was purposely behind the alleged wrongdoing, the company’s stock trading will be discontinued and it could be subject to punitive examination for delisting.

The company denies any wrongdoing and has vowed to take the legal actions against the government agencies.

As of 9:40 a.m. on Tuesday, shares of Samsung BioLogics rose 8.23 percent to 309,000 won, and Samsung C&T shares 0.49 percent up at 102,500 won in Seoul.

By Jin Young-tae and Lee Eun-joo

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