The six-month grace period for SillaJen to improve business practices, granted by the financial regulator, ended as of Thursday. As a result, investors are paying attention to whether the regulator will allow the company’s stock trading resumption.
Thursday marked the end of the six-month grace period given to SillaJen by the Korea Exchange’s (KRX) Kosdaq Market Committee in February.
SillaJen must submit a report within 15 business days of the end of the grace period explaining how it has improved its business.
Then, the KRX will hold a meeting of the Kosdaq Market Committee within 20 business days of the submission of the report to decide on the resumption of stock trading.
Industry officials expected the KRX to announce its decision on SillaJen at least by Oct. 12.
On Thursday, a group of SillaJen’s retail shareholders issued a statement.
“Today is the last day of the six-month grace period granted by the Kosdaq Market Committee. With the committee's review meeting imminent, SillaJen shareholders are both anxious and hopeful about stock trading resumption,” the group of SillaJen’s retail investors said.
SillaJen’s 170,000 individual shareholders and their 600,000 families have endured a time of patience for two years and four months since the stock trading was suspended in May 2020, the group said. They were so furious over the KRX’s poor review of the listed company that some have taken legal action against the KRX, according to the group.
In particular, the KRX’s corporate review committee’s mentioning of “discrepancy in clinical trial periods” as a reason for a possible delisting of SillaJen on Jan. 18 revealed the review panel’s lack of expertise, ignorance, and incompetency in reviewing biotech companies, the group of SillaJen’s retail shareholders argued.
The group said SillaJen’s fundamentals were stronger than ever, citing the company’s renal cell carcinoma trial conducted with M2N, its largest shareholder, and anticipations for new pipelines.
“We will wait and see the Kosdaq Market Committee’s wise decision,” the group said.
An official at SillaJen said the company was working on a report detailing how it improved business practices.
“We will submit the report soon,” the official said. “We will wrap up the introduction of a new pipeline by next month. This is something we already communicated with the KRX.”