SEOUL– South Korea’s bourse operator Friday gave a six-month grace period for scandal-ridden bio tech firm Sillajen to improve business practices before deciding on its delisting from the secondary KOSDAQ market
According to the results of a corporate review meeting of the Korea Exchange (KRX), Sillajen will have to submit a report within 15 business days of the end of the grace period detailing how it has improved its business, along with experts’ verification on the efforts.
The KRX should hold a meeting again to review whether to take its stock off the KOSDAQ market within 20 business days of the whole process.
In a statement issued right after the decision, Sillajen vowed to do its best to improve its business during the grace period and achieve the resumption of trading of its shares.
Trading of Sillajen stock has been suspended since May 2020 after the company’s top officials were accused of embezzlement and dereliction of duty.
Friday’s decision came about a month after the KRX tentatively decided to delist Sillajen, citing the company lacked new products and investment to retain its corporate value.
As of the end of 2021, about 174,000 retail investors had accounted for 92.6 percent of the company’s shares, according to the company.
After its market debut on Dec. 6, 2016, shares of Sillajen rallied to over 150,000 won (US$125.52) in late 2017 before plunging to the 12,000-won level ahead of the trading ban, lower than its IPO price of 15,000 won.
Source: Yonhap News Agency