HYBE completed the acquisition of SM stake ahead of schedule and officially became the single largest shareholder 

HYBE released a notice about the result of their acquisition of SM stake from Lee Soo Man.

On February 22nd, BTS’s agency HYBE announced that they had officially acquired a 14.8% stake in SM Entertainment from SM’s former executive producer Lee Soo Man earlier than scheduled.

As a result, HYBE officially became the single largest shareholder in SM.

On February 10th, HYBE signed a contract to purchase 14.8% stake for 422.8 billion won from SM’s founder and former executive producer Lee Soo Man.

Lee Soo Man’s remaining stake of 3.65% will also belong to HYBE as early as this year due to the put option (a right to sell assets at an agreed price).

HYBE’s expected acquisition of SM stake was originally scheduled for March 6th, however, HYBE paid 12 days early and completed the transaction.

People in the music industry analyze that HYBE completed the acquisition early to stabilize as the largest shareholder as soon as possible ahead of next month’s shareholders’ meeting.

In the conference call to announce the result of the acquisition the previous day, HYBE CEO Park Ji Won said, “We don’t think our acquisition of SM stake is hostile M&A”, adding “We have no intention of interfering with SM’s current management. Since Kakao is not interested in management rights, we can fully consider forming a business partnership with them if it can help SM.”

Source: KBS News