Oscotec consolidates 22.25% voting rights with second-largest shareholder, successfully defending control after inheritance-tax risk

Oscotec’s largest shareholder, Sung-yeon Kim, signed a joint voting agreement with four parties, including GK Asset, formerly the second-largest shareholder, raising the effective voting stake from 12.45% to 22.25%. With concerns about management control emerging after the founder’s death because of the inheritance-tax burden, the move is viewed as having resolved the governance risk at once by forming a block of friendly shares.

Management-control uncertainty after the founder’s death

After Oscotec founder and late Chairman Jeong-geun Kim died early this year, his eldest son, director Sung-yeon Kim, became the largest shareholder. However, South Korea’s inheritance-tax rate is among the highest in the world, reaching as much as 50%-60%, and Kim had to pledge approximately 98.5% of his personally held shares to make installment payments on the substantial inheritance-tax bill. The shares that Kim and related party Eun-sil Choi deposited with the Suwon District Court’s Seongnam Branch or pledged as loan collateral with Korea Securities Finance, Daol Investment & Securities, Hanwha Securities and NH Investment & Securities totaled 3,977,292 shares, equivalent to approximately 10.4% of the 38,258,176 total shares outstanding.

Against this backdrop, market concerns persisted over the possibility of a management-control dispute with second-largest shareholder GK Asset and the potential for a large volume of shares to be sold. There was also speculation that an attempted hostile merger and acquisition (M&A) could emerge as the largest shareholder’s ability to defend its stake weakened.

Governance uncertainty eased through consolidated voting rights

Kim disclosed through the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on the 16th that he had signed a joint voting agreement with four parties: GK Asset (958,900 shares, 2.51%), Gi-yoon Lee (950,000 shares, 2.48%), Hyo-jin Lee (946,258 shares, 2.47%) and Sang-ho Lee (891,035 shares, 2.33%). As a result, the number of specially related parties increased from two, including Choi, to six, and the effective voting stake held by Kim’s side expanded by 9.80 percentage points, from 12.45% based on the previous report to 22.25% (8,511,248 shares).

Kim personally holds 3,334,768 shares (8.72%), while Choi holds 1,430,287 shares (3.74%). Kim’s side disclosed that its purpose in holding the shares was to “exercise influence over the company as its largest shareholder,” while adding that it currently has no specific plans regarding the appointment of directors or auditors or amendments to the articles of incorporation.

Biotech and investment banking industry officials described the move as “a shrewd strategy that dispelled at once the overhang risk and possibility of a management-control dispute raised after the founder’s death.” Analysts said the easing of governance uncertainty provides a foundation for Oscotec to focus on its core research and development activities.

Genosco acquisition accelerates on top of royalty turnaround

Behind the consolidation of the stake is Oscotec’s push to make its U.S. research and development (R&D) subsidiary Genosco a wholly owned subsidiary. Oscotec is working to acquire all of Genosco’s remaining 40.69% stake and bring the company under 100% ownership. Genosco is the co-developer of the lung cancer drug lazertinib, marketed as Lazcluze. On Sept. 15, Oscotec launched a special committee chaired by former Korea Corporate Governance Forum Chairman Gyu-sik Kim to conduct an objective valuation of the company. Once the acquisition is completed, the economic benefits generated by the core pipeline could accrue entirely to Oscotec’s headquarters, potentially leading to a reassessment of the company’s value.

The company has also reached a turning point in its financial performance. Oscotec reported revenue of 56.3 billion won in the first half of 2026, up 371% from the same period a year earlier, and posted an operating profit of 28.7 billion won, marking a return to profitability. IBK Investment & Securities forecast that Lazcluze royalty revenue would rise sharply from 15.6 billion won in 2026 to 38.1 billion won in 2027 and 88.8 billion won in 2028. The brokerage analyzed that Oscotec had transformed into a cash-generating company capable of maintaining a stable profit trend through royalties alone, without raising additional funds.

Lazcluze is a drug originally developed by Oscotec, licensed to global pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson through Yuhan Corp. and subsequently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is considered a representative success story in which a South Korean small biotech’s early-stage drug discovery capabilities led to global commercialization. Using royalty revenue and cash secured through licensing deals with Sanofi and Agios, Oscotec is also building RIVENDELL, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based drug development platform aimed at overcoming resistance to anticancer drugs. The company is seeking to move beyond the success of a single drug and become a platform company capable of producing a succession of global blockbusters.