HLB Group Chairman Jin Yang-gon buys affiliate shares 15 times in a month through a personal corporation

[Financial News] HLB Group Chairman Jin Yang-gon has been buying stakes in major affiliates one after another through a personal corporation. In less than a month, he has made a total of 15 open-market purchases, continuing to invest in the affiliates.
HLB Group said on the 21st that Epoke, a financial investment company in which Chairman Jin holds a 99% stake, bought a total of 80,000 shares of HLB Therapeutics in two open-market transactions on the 15th and 20th. As a result, Epoke’s holdings of HLB Therapeutics increased from 172,272 shares to 252,272 shares.
Purchases of affiliate shares through Epoke began on the 23rd of last month. By the 1st, it had bought 218,718 shares of HLB Innovation and 130,584 shares of HLB Therapeutics on the open market, respectively. From the 6th to the 14th of this month, it purchased 207,897 shares of HLB Genex in six transactions. Including the two additional purchases of HLB Therapeutics, the total number of purchases stands at 15.
Chairman Jin had previously also been buying shares in major affiliates, including HLB Innovation, HLB Panagene, HLB Therapeutics, HLB Genex, HLB Biostep and HLB Pep, in his own name. The company explained, “Expanding investment from his own name to include a personal corporation reflects confidence in the affiliates’ growth potential and a commitment to responsible management.”
Alongside these share purchases, attention is also turning to business progress at the major affiliates. HLB Therapeutics is expected to announce in November the topline results of the U.S. Phase 3 trial, SEER-2, of RGN-259, a treatment for neurotrophic keratitis (NK).
The results are expected to be a key indicator of the direction of RGN-259’s further development and regulatory approval efforts. The company expects that positive results would also lend momentum to the approval process and commercialization efforts going forward.
A bioindustry source said, “A controlling shareholder’s continued purchases of shares can be interpreted as demonstrating commitment to the company’s medium- to long-term growth,” adding, “From the perspective of corporate value, concrete business results, such as clinical trial results for key pipeline candidates and plans for further development, will be important going forward.”
An HLB Group representative said, “Chairman Jin continues to purchase shares through his own name and corporations, based on his confidence in the growth potential and future value of the major affiliates,” adding, “We will continue to support the affiliates’ growth from a long-term perspective and work to ensure responsible management and enhance shareholder value.”
[email protected] Choi Doo-sun Reporter