As the battle over SM’s management rights continues to intensify, HYBE’s Bang Si Hyuk and Min Hee Jin are now discussed as the new directors of the label.
According to the insiders, if Lee Soo Man’s application for an injunction to ban the issuance of new shares and convertible bonds against SM is granted, this battle is likely to end with HYBE’s victory.
The current management of SM held an emergency board meeting last Tuesday and decided to issue new shares and convertible bonds to Kakao, which allowed the conglomerate a 9.05% stake. But after Kakao became the second largest shareholder, Lee Soo Man, the founder of SM, reached out to Bang Si Hyuk of HYBE and sold a 14.8% stake for 422.8 billion won (about $334 million). With this, a conflict over the K-pop powerhouse has surfaced – Lee Soo Man & HYBE vs. SM & Kakao.
HYBE announced its plan to secure up to 39.8% of the stake through a tender offer of 120,000 won per share, but it seems unlikely that Kakao will make a tender offer at a higher price than HYBE.
Meanwhile, HYBE will finalize its candidates for new directors to lead SM’s management this week. It’s expected that the company will put up “big shots” as their candidates, including Bang Si Hyuk, chairman of HYBE Corporation dubbed the “father of BTS,” and Min Hee Jin, CEO of ADOR who launched NewJeans.
>> Bang Si Hyuk’s HYBE Becomes SM’s Largest Shareholder
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