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Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae |
South Korea’s leading mobile messenger app operator Kakao Corp. took over 1 percent stake in Hanjin KAL, the holding entity of Hanjin Group, amid intensifying owner family feud over the helm at the transportation giant.
According to sources from the business circle on Monday, Kakao acquired a 1 percent stake in Hanjin KAL at the end of last year at around 20 billion won ($17.1 million). Kakao said the stake acquisition came after signing a memorandum of understanding with Hanjin KAL last month to create synergy effect by extending cooperation in wide-ranging businesses between the two parties, and it has not decided whether to exercise voting rights or buy additional stake.
The two companies inked the deal on Dec.5 to jointly develop and provide new services in various sectors including platform, membership, fintech, commerce, content and digitization with an aim to offer new value to customers.
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[Photo provided by Kakao] |
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Market watchers, however, speculated that the partnership would lead Kakao to serve as a ‘white knight’ for Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae. The nation’s transportation conglomerate that owns flag-carrier Korean Air Lines has been suffering from management feud by its family owners, after Cho Hyun-ah, the eldest of the late patriarch Cho Yang-ho, has officially taken on her brother Won-tae who was made the legal representative of the group following their father’s sudden death in April last year.
Industry sources recently found that Hyun-ah has been in talks with KCGI, a local activist fund holding the second largest stake of 17.29 percent in Hanjin KAL, and Bando Engineering & Construction that owns the fourth largest stake of 8.28 percent, to muster support for the power struggle.
An official from the Kakao, however, said the stake purchase was made just to strengthen business ties, and the company doesn’t want to involve in the management dispute.
[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]
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