'Solidigm listing is a sucking company scheme'
'Every available means must be used to block the listing'
People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo on Monday questioned whether President Lee Jae Myung is beholden to Honam-region semiconductor interests, asking why Lee has stayed silent on the planned NASDAQ listing of Solidigm, an SK hynix subsidiary, next year.
Ahn made the remarks on his Facebook page, saying the Solidigm listing "is not simply a problem of dual listing" but a larger one in which "SK Group's chairman and affiliates are designed to siphon off profits that belong to SK hynix shareholders."
He said SK Group earlier this year inserted a new entity called AI Company between SK hynix and Solidigm, creating what he called a "duplicate within a duplicate" structure. A fund established by a former SK executive and three SK affiliates have taken equity stakes in AI Company, he added.
Ahn also raised concerns about the impact a Solidigm listing would have on SK hynix's value. "Right now, all of Solidigm's profits go to SK hynix — and therefore to its shareholders," he said. "But if Solidigm lists, grows in valuation and gains more shareholders, the share belonging to SK hynix shareholders will shrink."
He pressed further, saying SK affiliates that hold equity in AI Company — which controls Solidigm — would pocket the gains from the listing directly.
Ahn likened the arrangement to what he called a "sucking company" scheme, saying it was "designed to let SK Group's chairman and affiliates take profits away from SK hynix shareholders." He also questioned why SK hynix was pursuing a five-tier dual listing by spinning off its NAND business rather than building a full lineup of DRAM, NAND and HBM products as Samsung Electronics is doing.
Ahn also directed his criticism at President Lee and financial regulators. "The bigger problem is the response from President Lee and the financial authorities," he said. "They have relentlessly promoted amendments to the Commercial Act and the advancement of capital markets, yet they are silent on the Solidigm case."
He asked whether Lee, after his "90-degree bow" to SK Group's chairman, was tacitly approving the listing, and whether he had "backed down in the face of the SK chairman's show of force during last week's visit to the Honam region."
Ahn urged President Lee to act, saying he "must use every available public means to block this listing." If the government stands by and does nothing, he warned, "the day Solidigm lists will be doomsday for the Korean stock market."
raining@heraldcorp.com
