The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday rejected Young Poong Corp. ’s shareholder derivative lawsuit against Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-beom and nine other directors, dismissing its claim for about 837 billion won in damages.
Young Poong filed the case in November 2024 during its management-control dispute with Korea Zinc and MBK Partners. It argued that Korea Zinc’s directors breached their duty of care by approving a tender offer for the company’s own shares at 890,000 won each, despite the stock trading at roughly 560,000 won at the time.
The court found that the directors had treated Young Poong’s takeover attempt as a threat to the company and had set the tender-offer terms after considering a premium over the market price. It concluded that their decision was not clearly unreasonable and did not amount to a breach of their managerial duties. The court also found no violation of the Commercial Act or Korea Zinc’s articles of incorporation.
The case concerned a shareholder derivative action, under which a qualifying shareholder can pursue directors on a company’s behalf when the company does not bring a damages claim itself. Young Poong said it would appeal and continue challenging the legality of the self-tender offer and the directors’ conduct.
The ruling follows earlier court decisions rejecting injunction requests aimed at stopping Korea Zinc’s treasury-share tender offer. Korea Zinc’s board raised its offer from 830,000 won to 890,000 won in October 2024 after Young Poong and MBK had launched their own bid for Korea Zinc shares.