CJ Group has formally shut down the rumors that it will likely be becoming a member of forces with Kakao in a bid to turn out to be the highest shareholder of SM Leisure.

Final week, Kakao turned the second-largest shareholder of SM Leisure after buying a 9.05 p.c stake within the firm—a transfer that SM Leisure founder Lee Soo Man has since denounced as unlawful. The acquisition got here simply days after SM Leisure’s present CEO Lee Sung Soo (who’s Lee Soo Man’s nephew) and COO Tak Younger Jun introduced their imaginative and prescient for a newly restructured “SM 3.0,” which concerned chopping ties with longtime producer Lee Soo Man.

After the announcement, Lee Soo Man flew again to Korea and introduced that he could be taking authorized motion in opposition to SM Leisure for violating the Industrial Act by illegally issuing new shares of the corporate and convertible bonds throughout a administration dispute. Then, on February 10, HYBE signed a cope with Lee Soo Man to accumulate a 14.8 p.c stake in SM Leisure, making it the biggest shareholder of the corporate.

On February 14, it was reported that Kakao had reached out to CJ Group with a proposal to work collectively in buying shares of SM Leisure. The studies claimed that in an effort to counter the brand new HYBE-Lee Soo Man partnership, the 2 conglomerates have been planning to accumulate a mixed complete of 19.9 p.c of SM Leisure’s shares.

Nonetheless, later that night, CJ Group formally denied that it was discussing such a proposal from Kakao with its subsidiaries. The conglomerate acknowledged, “[The reports] are groundless.”

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