À̹ÌÁö È®´ë Kosdaq members have followed their bigger counterparts in Kospi for spin-off of lucrative business arms, but their rushed push only ended up losing shareholders¡¯ confidence and stock value.
According to the Korea Exchange on Sunday, 13 firms on Korea¡¯s secondary Kosdaq market filed for spinoff plans in the first half of the year with 12 designed for spinoff that makes the separated company as a subsidiary of the parent company.
During the same period, nine firms on the Kospi pursued business split-ups. According to Korea Capital Market Institute, 55 percent of the total 377 spinoff cases during 2010~2021 came from the Kosdaq market.
The Kosdaq-listed firms have seen their stock prices down 9.8 percent on average after the disclosure of the spinoff. Captive spinoff or physical spinoff, in which a division becomes a separate accounting entity, but 100 percent owned by the parent company, is different from the equity spinoff, in which shares of a new division are handed out to the existing shareholders of the parent companies.
Kosdaq-listed KT Alpha separated its artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation (DX) parts business under the name of ¡°Alpha DX Solution¡± in April, claiming that it would focus on commerce and content businesses. Ssangyong Information & Communications divided its cloud business under the name of ¡°CloIT¡± in March. Software firm Sejoong also announced it would spin off its software part.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has revised the corporate reporting rule to require companies with assets over 1 trillion won to make separations public to protect minor shareholders¡¯ rights, but the rule only applies to Kospi-listed firms.
By Kang Min-woo and Jenny Lee
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