Nine in 10 employees are shareholders: Could Samsung Biologics, now a “community of shared interests,” pave the way for normalizing labor-management relations?

[Financial News] Employees threw their support behind Samsung Biologics’ 2.7 trillion won rights offering in large numbers. Amid steadily worsening labor-management relations, including the push to proceed with a strike, expectations are growing that “employee-shareholders” concerned about a decline in the company’s value could turn the situation around.
Samsung Biologics said on the 11th that its employee stock ownership association recorded a subscription rate nearing 90% in a recent rights offering to fund the acquisition of PolyPeptide Group, a global peptide contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) company.
Under current Capital Markets Act regulations, 454,000 shares—20% of the 2.27 million shares issued in total—were given priority allocation to the employee stock ownership association. Of those, subscriptions were completed for 405,430 shares, or 89.3%. This significantly exceeds the average employee stock ownership association subscription rate of 84.8% across 19 cases of large-scale rights offerings worth at least 1 trillion won by affiliates of major conglomerates since 2020.
The high subscription rate is attributed to confidence in the company’s growth prospects as well as clear investment incentives. Since the initial offering price was set at 1,174,000 won on September 30, Samsung Biologics’ share price has continued to recover. Over the past week, its shares have traded at around 1.5 million won. Based on that price, the current mark-to-market return is about 28%.
Industry observers believe the employee stock ownership association’s subscription will have the positive effect of fostering a kind of “community of shared interests.” The current Capital Markets Act is understood to require priority allocation of shares to employee stock ownership associations in rights offerings in order to share the benefits of corporate growth with employees, help them build assets, and promote cooperative labor-management relations and productivity. The aim is to establish a virtuous cycle in which efforts to increase the company’s value translate directly into employees’ own asset growth, while helping sustain mutually beneficial labor-management relations.
Given that Samsung Biologics had 5,573 employees at the end of the first half of 2026, about 5,000 have become both employees and shareholders. The amount allocated per employee in this rights offering is reportedly around 90 million won.
Given that contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) of biopharmaceuticals is Samsung Biologics’ business model, if unforeseen risks like those currently unfolding continue, employees could ultimately end up bearing the losses. Hardline action or a strike could lower the value of the shares they hold and cause them financial losses.
In the CDMO industry, trust with global clients—built on strict adherence to delivery schedules and stable, round-the-clock plant operations—is considered an asset. But concerns are mounting that business risks could arise as the union, as it is doing now, not only goes on strike but actively informs clients about the strike, and has even said it would report any problems that occur during a strike to regulatory authorities.
In fact, whenever labor-management tensions at Samsung Biologics have flared up recently, the market has reacted sensitively, at times leading to temporary declines in the share price. Since shares allocated to the employee stock ownership association are subject to a one-year lockup, views are gaining traction that if the current labor dispute drags on, current returns will be difficult to guarantee amid growing uncertainty surrounding the biotech industry.
An industry source said, “The strategy of securing wage increases by inflicting losses on a company through a strike was only effective in the past,” adding, “With nearly 90% of employees now shareholders, if they become aware that their own excessive labor actions could instead cause them losses, we expect they will have an incentive to pursue cooperative labor-management relations rather than unnecessary conflict.”
[email protected] Jung Sang-hee Reporter