SK, Holds 9.55 Percent Share of KT

SK Telecom, the expected largest shareholder of KT, holds 9.55 percent share of KT. SK Telecom bid for 5 percent share of KT and was assigned 3.78 percent share at the bid for the share that the government had hold on 17th and 18th, and SK purchased 5.77 percent share at an additional bid on 20th.

The Ministry of Communication and Transportation received subscriptions for stocks in the limit of EB allotted to the investors who purchased stocks on 17th and 18th when they wanted to purchase stocks instead of EB.

SK Telecom also has a right to subscribe for EB, which takes 1.79 percent of the prior assignment, on 21st.

Shin Young-Chul, executive director of Public Information, said that the company did not decide anything about the rest share but it will make a decision on 21st.

In relation, SK Telecom is expected to withdraw from the additional bid because of funding situation on 21st but a possibility of a surprise bid cannot be excluded as the company did on 18th.

Meanwhile, betraying the expectations, the Hyosung group purchased 0.013 percent of share (2.2 billion won) as an individual investor rather than an institutional investor.

LG Electronics and Daerim Industry that participated in the bid with SK Telecom will purchase the most shares that were assigned to those companies.

LG Electronics holds 0.78 percent share and 1.52 percent EB at the bid for large industries on 18th, expecting to hold 2.28 percent share in total. Daerim holds 1.38 percent share for now.

On the contrary, Samsung that did not hold a stock by a surprise bid of SK Telecom is seriously considering whether it would bid for EB subscription.

Im-Sook Ha artemes@donga.com