Hanmi family agreement settles management dispute

(Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group)

The management control dispute at Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group ended with an agreement between the largest shareholders.

Lim Jong-yoon, the director of Hanmi Science Co. who had been in a battle for control with the four-member alliance, agreed to sell his shares in Hanmi Science to the alliance. The move is expected to lead to a management system focused on professional management, as the coalition had planned.

The four-member alliance, the largest shareholder group of Hanmi Science, the holding company of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group, announced on Thursday that they reached an agreement to end the management dispute, stabilize the group’s governance, and create a sustainable management structure centered on professional managers.

As part of the agreement, the four-member alliance purchased five percent of the shares held by Lim, including three percent by Shin Dong-guk, founder of auto parts manufacturer Hanyang Precision Co., and two percent by La Defense Partners.

Once the deal is completed, the alliance’s friendly shares will increase to 54.42 percent, while the opposing faction’s shares will drop to 21.86 percent, effectively ending the management dispute.

“With this agreement, we expect to stabilize the group’s governance quickly and resolve the overhang issue, which had impacted shareholder value negatively for a long time,” the four-member alliance said. “This resolution of the management dispute will greatly help enhance shareholder value, and Hanmi will move forward with a unified vision toward sustainable growth. We also expect Lim to actively contribute to the alliance’s efforts.”

As the first step in this cooperation, the four-member alliance and Lim decided to withdraw all legal actions, including civil and criminal lawsuits, which they had filed against each other.

Industry experts expect that this resolution will stabilize Hanmi Pharmaceutical, which has been a leader in the development of innovative novel drugs in Korea, and that this will lead to a new wave of innovation in drug development.