Private equity firm MBK Partners said Friday it plans to pay about 2 trillion won (US$1.5 billion) to buy a stake in Korea Zinc, as it seeks to gain management rights of the world’s biggest refined zinc producer.

MBK Partners said it will purchase a maximum 14.6 percent stake in Korea Zinc for 660,000 won per share from Friday to Oct. 4.

The offer price was about 19 percent higher than Korea Zinc’s Thursday closing price of 556,000 won. On news of the tender offer, shares of Korea Zinc jumped 21.76 percent to 677,000 won at one point Friday morning.

MBK Partners has also signed an agreement with Young Poong that would enable the private equity firm to buy a part of Korea Zinc shares owned by Young Poong.

For decades, Korea Zinc and Young Poong had maintained a partnership, but the two companies have been at odds over a management dispute since 2022.

Young Poong and its founding family own a 33.13 percent stake in Korea Zinc.

In a statement, MBK Partners said the tender offer is aimed at helping the pri
vate equity firm “consolidate management rights and maximize shareholder value by improving the governance structure.”

Korea Zinc bristled at the tender offer, calling it a hostile takeover bid.

The tender offer is a “hostile and predatory M and A conducted unilaterally by Young Poong in collaboration with corporate hunter MBK Partners,” Korea Zinc said in a separate statement.

Korea Zinc was co-founded in 1974 by Chang Byung-hee and Choi Ki-ho. Since then, the Choi family manages Korea Zinc, while the Chang family is in charge of Young Poong and other electronic parts affiliates.

Since Choi Yun-beom, the grandson of the co-founder Choi Ki-ho, took office as chairman of Korean Zinc in 2022 and expressed his determination to separate his company from Young Poong, the two families have been locked in a battle for control of the company.

Source: Yonhap News Agency