SEOUL, July 24 (AJP) - SK Group's long-stalled sale of wafer maker SK Siltron may be back on track now that chairman Chey Tae-won owes his former wife 944 billion won, about $640 million at current rates, with a board meeting next week shaping up as the decision point.
The Seoul High Court ordered Chey on Friday to pay the sum to Roh So-yeong, director of the Art Center Nabi, in the retrial of their property division suit, plus five percent annual interest from the day after the ruling becomes final. The award is down from the 1.38 trillion won an appeals court granted in 2024, but still more than 14 times the trial court's original 66.5 billion won, and it leaves Chey needing to raise cash on a scale approaching 1 trillion won.
That need points to SK Siltron. Chey holds 12,975,472 shares, or 17.90 percent, of holding company SK Inc., a 29.4 percent stake in SK Siltron, preferred shares in SK Discovery and SK Chemicals, and a handful of shares in SK Telecom and SK Square. The SK Inc. stake is effectively untouchable, since selling it down would weaken Chey's control of South Korea's second-largest conglomerate, which is the market's broadly shared reading of why the wafer maker stands out as the most workable source of funds.
The stock market drew its own conclusions within hours. SK Telecom jumped more than 5 percent in afternoon trading after the verdict, bucking a broad market decline driven by Middle East tensions and surging oil prices, before paring the gain to close at 100,000 won ($68.2), up 0.50 percent.
The logic is straightforward. If Chey cannot sell his holding company shares, the cash has to come from somewhere, and fatter dividends from the group's cash-rich subsidiaries flowing up through SK Inc. are one of the few available channels.
Hana Securities had earlier named SK Telecom its top pick, saying expanded dividends from blue-chip subsidiaries were effectively the only way to ease the group's ownership-related pressures and that the carrier, with its strong dividend-paying capacity, was likely to lead the shift.
SK Inc. itself closed down 3.82 percent at 630,000 won, while SK hynix fell 8.34 percent to 1,759,000 won in a semiconductor-wide selloff.
SK Group has been trying to sell SK Siltron since last year. The deal on the table covers a 70.6 percent stake, and Doosan was named preferred bidder in December, but no definitive agreement has been signed. Two things slowed the process: surging demand for artificial intelligence chips lifted SK Siltron's value beyond earlier estimates, and the group's improving balance sheet reduced the urgency to sell.
Friday's ruling shifts that calculus. Chey now needs cash personally, and if his own 29.4 percent stake is folded into the transaction, the proceeds could cover a substantial portion of the settlement.
The market is watching the SK Inc. board meeting scheduled for July 31 as the turning point. The board is expected to take up whether and how to proceed with the sale, and a green light would likely restart the dormant negotiations with Doosan in earnest.
"The burden is lighter than after the appeals ruling, but 944 billion won is by no means a small amount," a business community source said. "Given that the chairman needs to secure cash, there is every chance the group will accelerate asset sales, including SK Siltron."
One variable remains. Chey's side could take the case back to the Supreme Court, which would leave the final figure unsettled. His legal representative said after the verdict that Chey "is sorry for the concern he has caused many people throughout the divorce process" and will announce whether to appeal after reviewing the ruling.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.
