SK Telecom decides to fully own SK Telink in stock swap deal

SK Telecom Co. has agreed to a full stock swap deal to buy an additional stake in its unlisted sister company SK Telink Co. and integrate it into its wholly-owned subsidiary, SK Telecom said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

In separate board meetings held Thursday, SK Telecom decided to buy a remaining 14.14 percent of SK Telink on top of its current ownership of 85.86 percent, while SK Telink decided to retire 5.55 percent of its treasury stocks. The stock swap ratio is 1 to 1.0687714.

Minority shareholders of SK Telink are eligible to claim cash back for their holdings which are set at 270,583 won per share.

SK Telecom said the subsidiary integration aims to create more synergy in exploring new business models although SK Telink has achieved steadily in key business areas such as international calls and wired communication services for business customers.

Potential new business models will be built on the combination between SK Telecom’s core assets such as artificial intelligence (AI), IoT, big data and home networking technology and SK Telink’s strength in wired and security portfolio.

The deal is subject to final clearance at a shareholders’ meeting in November.

The stock swap deal will not affect the ownership of SK Telecom shareholders and the governance structure.

Meanwhile, SK Telecom’s two wholly-owned subsidiaries - SK TechX for AI and IoT applications, Entrix for media cloud streaming business - decided to merge with each other on Wednesday.

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