HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk Investigated by South Korean Regulators Over $285M IPO Profit

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service is investigating HYBE and its chairman, Bang Si-hyuk, over allegations he earned $285 million from the company’s 2020 initial public offering through profit-sharing deals with three large shareholders.

HYBE, then named Big Hit Entertainment, went public in 2020 after building its primary act, BTS, into global stars. The IPO raised approximately $820 million and confirmed HYBE’s arrival as a major player in the global music business. But while the IPO was a success for the company, many individuals who bought shares for well above the IPO price lost money as the price retreated in the following weeks.

Last week, The Korea Economic Daily broke the story that Bang personally pocketed about 400 billion won ($285 million) from agreements made with private shareholders STIC Investments, Estone Equity Partners and New Main Equity a few years before the IPO. Those agreements, according to the report, called for Bang to receive 30% of the shareholders’ profits from their sale of Big Hit shares following the IPO. But if Big Hit failed to go public before an agreed-upon time, Bang would have had to repurchase the shares plus interest.

In a statement posted to HYBE’s investor relations website on Friday (Nov. 29), the company confirmed the existence of a shareholder agreement but dismissed the notion that Bang broke any securities law. “During the process of preparing for the listing, our company provided the relevant shareholder agreement to the listing underwriters, and the listing underwriters also reviewed the relevant shareholder agreement in accordance with the listing-related laws,” the statement reads. “In this regard, we have determined that our company did not violate any relevant laws during the listing process.”

A HYBE official provided more detail about the shareholder agreement in a statement to The Korean Herald. Prior to the IPO, one of HYBE’s investors requested to know the IPO timeline, which HYBE refused to share. Worried about unnamed uncertainties, the shareholder demanded a “put-back option,” or a right to sell an equity at a pre-determined price and time. But HYBE “couldn’t sustain itself under such conditions,” this person stated, and Bang “took on the risk himself” and personally agreed to the option.

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service was quoted in media reports as saying it’s investigating HYBE and Bang for possible violations of the country’s Capital Markets Act, including how a private equity fund acquired Big Hit shares prior to the IPO and whether Big Hit omitted information from its securities filing. The Korea Exchange stock market is also examining relevant documents for potential violations.

When Big Hit shares debuted on the Korea Exchange on Oct. 15, 2020, strong demand drove the share price from the 135,000 won ($118) IPO price to 351,000 won ($308) on its opening day. But Big Hit’s price fell 22.3% the next day and dropped another 29% over the next two weeks, leaving many individual investors with losses. (The stock rebounded over time. An investor who bought at the peak on the stock’s opening day could have sold for a profit had they waited one year.) The Korea Economic Daily article contended the drop-off was “largely driven” by the private equity fund’s “massive selloff” of Big Hit shares after the IPO.