[Exclusive] Hanmi Pharm's owner family even uses relatives' shares as collateral for loan

By Kwang-Ho Lee

After Hanmi Pharm founder Lim Sung-ki passed away, his family members have used their shares as collateral to borrow a significant amount of money to pay inheritance taxes.

The late founder’s oldest son, Hanmi Pharm President Lim Chong-yoon, however, was found to have borrowed money by using more amount of shares than he actually owns.

For the 10 loan contracts he signed, Lim used slightly less than 4.8 million shares in Hanmi Science, the holding firm of Hanmi Pharm Group, according to the company’s regulatory filing.

In addition, approximately 1.8 million shares were used as security for payment of tax to the National Tax Service’s Jamsil District Office in Seoul.

Currently, Lim only holds 5.4 million shares, less than the 6.6 million shares he used as collateral.

The president, however, borrowed an additional 6 billion won ($4.6 million) between July 27 and 28, using more shares in his company as collateral.

Those shares were lent to him from other people.

Lim borrowed the shares from some of Hanmi Science’s major shareholders that include 20 people related to the largest shareholder, Chairwoman Song Young-sook, the late founder’s wife, and three corporations.

However, the president does not seem to have had to disclose the information, as he borrowed small amounts of shares from multiple people.

To sum up, he began to borrow shares from his relatives as collateral for loans, as it has been difficult for him to secure enough amount of cash with his own shares.

Since his father’s death, the president has borrowed around 76 billion won by using shares in his company as collateral.

Considering that the inheritance tax imposed on him amounts to around 99 billion won, it seems that he needs to raise an additional 23 billion won by trying every means possible.

Amid the difficulties in securing cash, he appears to have no choice but to sell an additional stake in his company.

*This was translated from the article originally written in Korean. For more accurate information, please refer to the original version by using the link below. In case of discrepancies between the two versions, the Korean version shall prevail.
https://n.news.naver.com/article/374/0000298745

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