Section V Mergers and Consolidations, Splits, Acquisitions, and Assignment of Shares |
| Article 23 | A public company that conducts a merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of shares, prior to convening the board of directors to resolve on the matter, shall engage a CPA, attorney, or securities underwriter to give an opinion on the reasonableness of the share exchange ratio, acquisition price, or distribution of cash or other property to shareholders, and submit it to the board of directors for deliberation and passage. However, the requirement of obtaining an aforesaid opinion on reasonableness issued by an expert may be exempted in the case of a merger by a public company of a subsidiary in which it directly or indirectly holds 100 percent of the issued shares or authorized capital, and in the case of a merger between subsidiaries in which the public company directly or indirectly holds 100 percent of the respective subsidiaries’ issued shares or authorized capital.
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| Article 24 | A public company participating in a merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of shares shall prepare a public report to shareholders detailing important contractual content and matters relevant to the merger, demerger, or acquisition prior to the shareholders meeting and include it along with the expert opinion referred to in paragraph 1 of the preceding Article when sending shareholders notification of the shareholders meeting for reference in deciding whether to approve the merger, demerger, or acquisition. Provided, where a provision of another act exempts a company from convening a shareholders meeting to approve the merger, demerger, or acquisition, this restriction shall not apply.
Where the shareholders meeting of any one of the companies participating in a merger, demerger, or acquisition fails to convene or pass a resolution due to lack of a quorum, insufficient votes, or other legal restriction, or the proposal is rejected by the shareholders meeting, the companies participating in the merger, demerger or acquisition shall immediately publicly explain the reason, the follow-up measures, and the preliminary date of the next shareholders meeting.
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| Article 25 | A company participating in a merger, demerger, or acquisition shall convene a board of directors meeting and shareholders meeting on the day of the transaction to resolve matters relevant to the merger, demerger, or acquisition, unless another act provides otherwise or the FSC is notified in advance of extraordinary circumstances and grants consent.
A company participating in a transfer of shares shall call a board of directors meeting on the day of the transaction, unless another act provides otherwise or the FSC is notified in advance of extraordinary circumstances and grants consent.
When participating in a merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of another company's shares, a company that is listed on an exchange or has its shares traded on an OTC market shall prepare a full written record of the following information and retain it for 5 years for reference:
- Basic identification data for personnel: Including the occupational titles, names, and national ID numbers (or passport numbers in the case of foreign nationals) of all persons involved in the planning or implementation of any merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of another company's shares prior to disclosure of the information.
- Dates of material events: Including the signing of any letter of intent or memorandum of understanding, the hiring of a financial or legal advisor, the execution of a contract, and the convening of a board of directors meeting.
- Important documents and minutes: Including merger, demerger, acquisition, and share transfer plans, any letter of intent or memorandum of understanding, material contracts, and minutes of board of directors meetings.
When participating in a merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of another company's shares, a company that is listed on an exchange or has its shares traded on an OTC market shall, within 2 days counting inclusively from the date of passage of a resolution by the board of directors, report (in the prescribed format and via the Internet-based information system) the information set out in subparagraphs 1 and 2 of the preceding paragraph to the FSC for recordation.
Where any of the companies participating in a merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of another company's shares is neither listed on an exchange nor has its shares traded on an OTC market, the company(s) so listed or traded shall sign an agreement with such company whereby the latter is required to abide by the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs.
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| Article 26 | Every person participating in or privy to the plan for merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of shares shall issue a written undertaking of confidentiality and may not disclose the content of the plan prior to public disclosure of the information and may not trade, in their own name or under the name of another person, in any stock or other equity security of any company related to the plan for merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of shares.
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| Article 27 | Public companies participating in a merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of shares may not arbitrarily alter the share exchange ratio or acquisition price unless under the below-listed circumstances, and shall stipulate the circumstances permitting alteration in the contract for the merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of shares:
- Cash capital increase, issuance of convertible corporate bonds, or the issuance of bonus shares, issuance of corporate bonds with warrants, preferred shares with warrants, stock warrants, or other equity based securities.
- An action, such as a disposal of major assets, that affects the company's financial operations.
- An event, such as a major disaster or major change in technology, that affects shareholder equity or share price.
- An adjustment where any of the companies participating in the merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of shares from another company, buys back treasury stock.
- An increase or decrease in the number of entities or companies participating in the merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of shares.
- Other terms/conditions that the contract stipulates may be altered and that have been publicly disclosed.
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| Article 28 | The contract for participation by a public company in a merger, demerger, acquisition, or of shares shall record the rights and obligations of the companies participating in the merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of shares, and shall also record the following:
- Handling of breach of contract.
- Principles for the handling of equity-type securities previously issued or treasury stock previously bought back by any company that is extinguished in a merger or that is demerged.
- The amount of treasury stock participating companies are permitted under law to buy back after the record date of calculation of the share exchange ratio, and the principles for handling thereof.
- The manner of handling changes in the number of participating entities or companies.
- Preliminary progress schedule for plan execution, and anticipated completion date.
- Scheduled date for convening the legally mandated shareholders meeting if the plan exceeds the deadline without completion, and relevant procedures.
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| Article 29 | After public disclosure of the information, if any company participating in the merger, demerger, acquisition, or share transfer intends further to carry out a merger, demerger, acquisition, or share transfer with another company, all of the participating companies shall carry out anew the procedures or legal actions that had originally been completed toward the merger, demerger, acquisition, or share transfer; except that where the number of participating companies is decreased and a participating company's shareholders meeting has adopted a resolution authorizing the board of directors to alter the limits of authority, such participating company may be exempted from calling another shareholders meeting to resolve on the matter anew.
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| Article 30 | Where any of the companies participating in a merger, demerger, acquisition, or transfer of shares is not a public company, the public company(s) shall sign an agreement with the non-public company whereby the latter is required to abide by the provisions of Article 25, Article 26, and the preceding article.
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