[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] Seoul, South Korea — July 28, 2025 — Taekwang Industrial Co., Ltd. announced that it has filed a formal petition with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), accusing Truston Asset Management of engaging in “greenmail” by pressuring the company to conduct a high-priced tender offer and then selling shares ahead of a key market disclosure.
According to Taekwang Industrial, Truston sent shareholder letters in February and March 2025 urging the company to sell major assets and repurchase approximately ₩180 billion worth of its own shares at ₩2 million per share — more than three times the prevailing market price of ₩621,000 on February 3.
Taekwang rejected the proposal after a legal review, warning that such a transaction could temporarily inflate the share price before triggering a sharp decline, potentially leading to allegations of market manipulation and investigations by regulators and prosecutors.
The company also noted that a buyback of that scale could drastically reduce the number of shares in circulation, lowering trading volume and ultimately risking delisting from the exchange.
Taekwang Industrial characterized Truston’s tactics as a textbook case of greenmail — an investment scheme in which shareholders accumulate stock and pressure a company to repurchase it at an inflated price for profit.
On February 3, Truston held 67,669 shares of Taekwang Industrial. If the company had accepted Truston’s demand for a ₩2 million buyback price, the value of those holdings would have surged from ₩42 billion to ₩135.3 billion, giving Truston a windfall gain of ₩93.3 billion.
The company said it has asked the Financial Supervisory Service to fully investigate the matter, calling the actions “an illegal and coercive attempt that undermines market order.”
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
