이 기사는 2022년 03월 17일 07시57분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Hong Won-sik, chairman of South Korea’s Namyang Dairy Products, has lost again in court with his case against Hahn & Company, putting him under greater financial pressure in a long-running legal battle with the Seoul-based private equity firm.

On Tuesday, the Seoul Central District Court dismissed a case brought by Hong in January seeking to overturn the court’s decision that sided with Hahn & Co and prevented the chairman and his family members from selling their controlling stake to Dayou Winia Group.

Hong, who last spring signed a deal to sell his firm to Hahn & Co, abruptly announced a conditional agreement with Dayou Winia in November. In response, the private equity firm filed an injunction to block the share sale on December 3 and the court accepted Hahn & Co’s request on January 26. But Hong refused to accept the decision and filed an objection with the court on the following day.

The court’s recent decision comes on the same day Dayou Winia announced that its deal with the dairy firm is no longer valid as of March 7, citing the counterparty’s violation of terms of conditions as the reason for the cancellation.

Hong appears to be under increasing financial pressure as the legal fight continues. He lost all injunction suits against Hahn & Co, obligating him to pay legal fees and costs to the private equity firm. This could be a big burden for him, especially when the main case is still ongoing and is expected to take years to resolve.

Moreover, Hong needs to refund a 35 billion won prepayment to Dayou Winia as the deal terminated. Dayou Winia had originally agreed to buy 378,938 shares in Namyang Dairy owned by Hong and his wife and grandson for about 320 billion won.

“We cannot confirm whether chairman Hong already refunded the prepayment,” a Dayou Winia official said. (Reporting by Gyoung-tae Kim)