Acquisition of information in the process of public representation of listed companies
Hantoo Securities, an office handler, is also raided
Financial authorities are investigating the highest-ranking executives of accounting firms, who were acting on behalf of foreign listed companies in Korea, on charges of earning hundreds of millions of won in unfair profits by using open purchases and voluntary delisting information.
According to the financial investment industry on the 27th, the Joint Response Team to eradicate stock price manipulation, consisting of the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service, and the Korea Exchange, sent investigative personnel to the offices of Korea-US accounting firms in Seoul the previous day to secure business data and internal documents. It was also accompanied by a search and seizure of Korea Investment & Securities, which was an open purchase office.
The joint response team believes that multiple executives and employees, including top executives of Korea-U.S. accounting firms, traded KDRs using information on the planned tender offer of SBI Fintech Solutions, a Japanese KOSDAQ listed company, and important information before disclosure. They are accused of buying KDR before the related information was released to the outside world and selling it when the stock price rose due to the announcement of a tender offer.
Hanmi Accounting Corporation was a domestic disclosure agent of SBI Fintech Solutions. The joint response team is looking into whether executives and employees of Korea-U.S. accounting firms identified the tender offer and delisting plan in advance and abused it for stock trading in the process of conducting public disclosure practices. In Korea, it is rare for an accounting firm to perform the disclosure agency of a listed company.
The unfair profits of executives and employees of Korea-US accounting firms identified so far are worth hundreds of millions of won. However, if the analysis of confiscated materials and account tracking are carried out, there is a high possibility that the amount of unfair gains will increase to more than 1 billion won and the number of people involved will increase.
At that time, Korea Investment & Securities was an open purchase office handler who handled practical affairs such as subscription reception and payment on behalf of the open buyer. The joint response team was found to have secured data on Korea Investment & Securities to confirm data on tender purchases and information delivery routes. The raid is known to be a reference investigation. Until now, executives and employees of Korea Investment & Securities have not been booked as suspects, but there is a possibility that it will vary depending on the direction of the investigation.
Based on the seized data, the joint response team is reportedly planning to contrast the timing of the information acquisition by executives and employees of the Korea-U.S. accounting firm, the internal sharing route, and the actual transaction account with the time of sale. Whether there are additional people involved in transactions by receiving undisclosed information and whether internal control at the corporate level worked properly are also expected to be investigated.
Hanmi Accounting Firm is the top 20 mid-sized accounting firm in Korea by sales and is registered as an auditor of a stock-listed corporation by the financial authorities. Along with external audits of listed companies, he has conducted advisory work such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate valuation, and financial audit.
