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South Korea's watchdog questions the purpose of Hanwha Aerospace $2.5 billion share sale

South Korea's watchdog questions the purpose of Hanwha Aerospace $2.5 billion share sale

The South Korean financial market watchdog stated on Tuesday that Hanwha Aerospace must better explain how the proposed 3.6 trillion won (2.46 billion dollars) equity raise fits into a larger plan to restructure its company.

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), last week, blocked controversial capital raising plans of the defence company on grounds that its filing did not contain the information necessary for investors to make rational investments decisions. It ordered the company to submit a revised submission.

Hahm Yong il, Senior Deputy Governor of FSS, said at a press briefing that "the ownership restructuring of affiliated companies and its relevance to share issue plan as well as the effect of the restructuring on firm should be noted."

Analysts questioned the intention and necessity of raising capital. On March 21, the day after the plan announcement, Hanwha Aerospace shares posted their worst session in early November 2016. They fell 13%.

Hanwha Group announced Monday that Kim Seung Youn, Chairman of South Korea's 7th largest conglomerate, was giving his sons an 11.32% share in Hanwha Aerospace, the parent company of Hanwha Corp, as part a succession plan.

Hanwha Aeropsace announced on Tuesday that its executives, which included one of Kim’s sons, had purchased shares worth about 9 billion won to demonstrate their desire to increase shareholder value.

Investors have been critical of a number of capital-raising plans in South Korea, including those by Samsung SDI, Korea Zinc, and battery maker Samsung SDI.

Corporate Governance Reforms

As of 0445 GMT, shares in Hanwha Aerospace rose 7.5% while the benchmark KOSPI index was up by 1.8%. Reporting by Jihoon Lee, Editing by Jamie Freed & Gerry Doyle

(source: Reuters)