MBK-UCK consortium offers 2nd tender to delist Osstem Implant

The MBK Partners-Unison Capital Korea (UCK) consortium said on Wednesday it will conduct a second tender offer for shares in Osstem Implant Co., a fraud-hit dental implant maker in South Korea, to delist the company from the junior bourse Kosdaq.    

The consortium aims to acquire 10.62% ownership in Osstem, or 1.65 million shares for 190,000 won ($145.4) apiece via the tender offer between March 22 and April 11.

They bought a 65.1% stake in Osstem via the previous tender offer last month, raising the ownership to 83.34%. It looks to raise the holdings to 93.97% via a second tender – the remaining 6.03% are Osstem’s treasury shares.

The consortium is forecast to proceed with delisting the dental implant maker once their holdings exceed 90% via the tender.

To delist a company from the main bourse Kospi, its largest shareholder is mandated to own at least 95%.

Although the Kosdaq doesn’t have such a regulation, the market has considered at least 90% ownership to be a requirement for delisting from the junior bourse.

MBK-UCK consortium said a second tender, which offers the same price per share as the previous bid, will protect retail investors’ interest.

Osstem stakes in circulation are about 10% of issued shares, and the share price is highly likely to fluctuate once trading resumes, the consortium added.

Korea Exchange suspended trading of Osstem shares from February 28 to March 21 to protect smaller investors' interests after the MBK-UCK consortium became the largest shareholder of the dental implant maker last month.

Osstem's stock rose 0.86% to close at 188,700 won on Wednesday, underperforming the Kosdaq index's 1.36% jump.

Write to Dong-Hun Lee at leedh@hankyung.com
 

Jihyun Kim edited this article.