Eugene Corp., the country’s largest ready-mix concrete-maker, raised its stake in its takeover target Tong Yang to more than 10 percent, making it the company’s largest shareholder, local reports said Friday.

Eugene upped its stake by 0.7 percentage point to 10.01 through the acquisition of a 0.6 percentage point stake from Aju Group and open market purchases. 


The move comes only a few days after Eugene publicly declared its intention to secure control of the smaller ready-mix rival.

Shares in Tong Yang rose 5.71 percent to 3,425 won ($2.95) on the main KOSPI stock exchange Friday.

Eugene’s apparent contender in the takeover bid is Pinetree Asset Management, which holds a 9.73 percent stake. Sampyo, another ready-mix concrete-maker, is the third largest shareholder of Tong Yang at 3.19 percent.

Tong Yang graduated from a 28-month court receivership earlier this year. It sits on cash of about 500 billion won after it sold assets to repay debt, including a controlling stake in affiliate Tong Yang Cement.

The big day in the shareholders’ battle for control of Tong Yang is March 30, when it holds its general shareholders meeting.

Eugene and Pinetree will compete with each other to plant men in the company’s boardroom, whose 10 seats are currently all occupied. They will first push to increase the board directorship to 15 in order to open the door for new directors, sources said.

By Lee Sun-young
(milaya@heraldcorp.com)