BTS’ agency HYBE will take over SM Entertainment, a large K-pop agency.
Today (Feb 10th), HYBE announced that they would acquire a 14.8% stake held by Lee Soo Man, a major shareholder of SM, for 422.8 billion won.
This makes HYBE the largest shareholder. Lee Soo Man, the No.1 shareholder of SM, owns an 18.46% stake. Kakao joined hands with SM on Feb 7th with a paid-in capital increase of 9.05%, but the situation changed as HYBE joined hands with Lee Soo Man.
It was revealed that HYBE would also launch a tender offer for shares held by SM’s minority shareholders.
However, SM’s co-CEOs and board of directors expressed opposition to HYBE’s acquisition. On the same day, SM announced the official position of SM Entertainment’s co-CEOs and board of directors (25 people in senior positions above center director).
In the statement, SM’s co-CEOs and board of directors said, “As SM is once again about to transform and leap forward as a fan- and shareholder-centered company that leads global entertainment through the SM 3.0 era, we would like to state clearly that we oppose all the hostile M&As being reported this time by gathering strength with our employees and artists.”
Meanwhile, HYBE has BTS, Seventeen, TXT, Enhypen, NewJeans, LE SSERAFIM… SM is home to talented groups such as TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, EXO, NCT and aespa. Therefore, this incident is expected to cause a significant change in the music industry.
Source: nate
