On the 27th, the court ruled in favor of Korea Zinc on the measure to limit voting rights by creating a circular shareholding link for Youngpoong, a rival in management disputes. Then, Youngpoong and MBK Partners (MBK Alliance) claimed that they revived their voting rights by lifting the mutual stock relationship through dividends at the Yeongpoong regular shareholders' meeting held on the same day. As the arguments of both sides are mixed, it is expected that the regular shareholders' meeting of Korea Zinc will be disrupted on the 28th.

The Seoul Central District Court's Civil Agreement Department 50 (senior judge Kim Sang-hoon) rejected MBK's request for a provisional injunction against Korea Zinc for "permission to exercise voting rights at regular shareholders' meetings." In its application for provisional injunction, the MBK Alliance claimed that it cannot restrict voting rights because it did not hold stocks as of the △ March 28 shareholders' meeting, and that △ Sunmetal Holdings (SMH) is not subject to commercial law because it is a foreign corporation and △SMH is not a corporation.

Earlier, Korea Zinc formed a circular shareholding chain at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting held on January 23 by allowing its Australian grandson, Sunmetal Corporation (SMC), to acquire more than 10% of Youngpoong's stake. When the court ruled on the 7th that restrictions on voting rights were unfair, SMH, the parent company of SMC, formed a new mutual stock relationship by receiving in-kind dividends of its stake in Youngpoong.

To avoid restrictions on voting rights using circular investment, the MBK Alliance invested 5,262,450 Korean Zinc shares (25.4% stake) held by Youngpoong on the 8th in kind in WiPC, a new limited company.

However, as the ruling prevented MBK from exercising its voting rights for Youngpoong's 25.4% stake at the Korea Zinc regular shareholders' meeting on the 28th, just like the extraordinary shareholders' meeting in January, the mutual stock relationship was resolved through stock dividends.

The MBK Alliance announced that it decided to distribute 0.04 shares per share at the Yeongpoong regular shareholders' meeting.

"SMH's stake in Youngpoong, an overseas subsidiary of Korea Zinc, fell to less than 10% and mutual stock relations were not established," the MBK alliance said. "Youngpoong's voting rights restrictions claimed by Chairman Choi Yoon-beom at Korea Zinc's regular shareholders' meeting will not apply."

[Reporter Oh Dae-seok / Reporter Kang Min-woo]