Investors Dumped Youngnam Flour Shares

It being reported that seven corporate investors bought Youngnam Flour Mills shares through over-the-counter transactions last November and resold them within either a week or month, triggering a decline in the company’s share price.

Individual investors who invested in Youngnam Flour Mills without knowing this situation appear to have suffered large losses.

Youngnam Flour Mills sold 9.37 percent (1.95 million) of its shares in a lump transaction.

Youngnam Chairman Yoo Won-gi, who played golf with Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan on March 1, owns the company.

Youngnam Flour Mills earned a profit of 6.7 billion won on November 25 when it sold 1.95 million shares through over-the-counter transactions.

An official of the investment trust company (identified as “A”) which bought some of Youngnam Flour Mills’ shares said yesterday, “Our company bought shares at 5,000 won, the closing price, which was 2.3 percent cheaper than the 5,120 won which was settled on that day,” and added, “We made huge profits within a couple of days by reselling Youngnam Flour Mills stocks before the end of November.”

According to a report by Dong-A Ilbo, most corporate investors who bought Youngnam Flour Mills shares, excluding “A,” confirmed that they sold the shares within a month.

According to Baker, Tilly and Sungto LLC, which audited Youngnam Flour Mills in 2005, six shareholders held more than 1.15 percent of the company shares as of December 27 last year. Among them, none became the main investor by buying shares.

All seven corporate investors who bought the nearly 9.37 percent of the outstanding shares didn’t become main shareholders. This means that most of them sold their shares before December 27.

The price per share of Youngnam Flour Mills, 5,120 won as of November 25, dropped by 20 percent to 4,125 won as of December 27.

The stock closed at 2,630 won yesterday, a 49 percent fall compared to last year.

Im-Sook Ha Wan-Bae Lee artemes@donga.com roryrery@donga.com