SK Telecom shares experienced a boost on July 24 after a court ruling ordered Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay 944 billion won in property division as part of his divorce proceedings.
On that day, SK Telecom closed at 101,300 won, up 1,800 won (1.81%) from the previous session. Following the ruling around 2 p.m., the stock surged as much as 5.33%, reaching 104,800 won.
The Seoul High Court's Family Division, led by Judge Lee Sang-joo, ruled that Chey must pay his ex-wife, No So-young, the substantial property division amount. The court also mandated that Chey pay a 5% annual interest on the amount from the day the ruling is finalized until it is fully paid.
Analysts suggest that the need for Chey to secure cash for the property division could lead to increased dividends from strong affiliates, which may have driven the buying interest in SK Telecom shares.
Market experts are discussing various options for raising funds, including stock-backed loans, selling unlisted assets, and increasing dividends from affiliates. Notably, Hana Financial Investment recently stated in a report that expanding dividends from strong subsidiaries is essentially the only solution to address governance issues without selling off shares in the holding company, positioning SK Telecom as a top pick.
Chey currently holds 12,975,472 shares (17.90% stake) in SK Inc. However, analysts believe that the potential for a large-scale sale of SK Inc. shares is limited due to their critical role in the group's governance structure.
Meanwhile, SK Inc. shares closed down 3.66% on the same day, while SK Hynix saw a significant drop of 8.34%.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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