A special purpose company set up by Korea Zinc Inc. Chairman Choi Yun-beom succeeded in its tender offer for Young Poong Precision, which holds a minor stake in the world's biggest zinc smelter, a source familiar with the matter said Tuesday. A total of 5.49 million shares of Young Poong Precision, or 99.6 percent of the targeted bid, were subscribed for the tender offer by the special purpose firm, Jerico Partners, according to the source. The tender offer for Young Poong Precision, which holds a 1.85 percent stake in Korea Zinc, ended on Monday. The move came as Korea Zinc has been mired in a multi-billion dollar takeover battle with private equity firm MBK Partners and Young Poong Corp., the smelter's biggest shareholder. Also on Tuesday, a co-CEO of Korea Zinc escalated the company's attack on MBK and Young Poong. Last week, MBK and Young Poong said they secured a 5.34 percent stake in Korea Zinc in their tender offer for the zinc smelter. Park Ki-deok, the co-CEO of Korea Zinc, claimed that the ten der offer by MBK and Young Poong had a "legal flaw. "I think it was fundamentally invalid," Park said. "It should be considered an act of disrupting the market through stock manipulation and fraudulent transaction." Korea Zinc was co-founded in 1974 by Chang Byung-hee and Choi Ki-ho and has been stably managed for decades by the Choi family. However, the ongoing battle for control erupted last month after current Chairman Choi Yun-beom, who took office in 2022, sought to separate the company from Young Poong. The Young Poong and MBK coalition control a 38.47 percent stake in the company, while Choi, the chairman of Korea Zinc, and his supporting investors control a 33.99 percent stake, according to industry sources. Source: Yonhap News Agency
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