HYBE and Kakao Games to be released from mandatory escrow this month

The Korea Securities Depository said on Wednesday that 225.5 million shares of a total of 58 listed stocks registered as mandatory escrow will be lifted in December.

Mandatory escrow refers to an act of registering electronically with the Korea Securities Depository with the purpose to restrict the disposal of stocks owned by the largest shareholders for a certain period of time in order to protect small investors.

By market, 58.9 million shares in nine companies in the KOSPI market and 166.6 million shares in 49 companies in the KOSDAQ market will be released. The number of stocks for which mandatory escrow registration would be terminated in December increased by 33.3% compared to the previous month (169.2 million shares). Compared to the same period last year (187.0 million shares), it rose 20.6%.

The top companies in terms of the number of stocks that have been lifted from the escrow restriction are Mobidays (54.6 million shares) and Mastern Premier REITs No. 1 (13.1 million shares).

Winia Aid (64.6%) and Bumhan Fuel Cell (51.4%) ranked among the top companies in the number of shares released compared to the total number of shares outstanding.

In addition, 2,302,570 shares (5.57%) of HYBE's mandatory escrow holdings will be canceled next month. It is a stake purchased by Dunamu in November of last year.

However, market observers are skeptical that Dunamu's stake in HYBE is likely to be released in the market in the near future. In addition to HYBE, 2,711,805 shares (3.30%) of Kakao Games are set to have their mandatory escrow holding lifted next month.

Write to Seong-mi Shim at smshim@hankyung.com