SK Group Chairman Sells Shares to Fund Divorce Settlement

SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won has sold a 1.34% stake in the group's holding company, SK Inc., to an investment fund associated with Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell for 544 billion Korean won (approximately $400 million USD). This sale is part of Choi's broader plan to divest shares worth a total of 944 billion won ($700 million USD) to finance a divorce settlement with his former wife.

The buyer of the 972,493 SK Inc. shares is DFO Public Investments, L.P., a Delaware-registered fund managed by the Dell family's investment office, DFO Management. Earlier filings indicated Choi's intention to sell a total of 1.65 million shares (2.26% stake) for 944 billion won. A portion of these shares, 681,431 shares (0.94%), were to be sold to Korean investment firm Korean Investment & Securities for 400 billion won.

SK had previously described the foreign investor as a "strategic investor" based on its assessment of SK Inc.'s corporate competitiveness and mid-to-long-term growth prospects. Dell Technologies is a key supplier of AI servers and data center infrastructure, and has business dealings with SK Hynix, SK Group's memory chip subsidiary. It is important to note that the acquisition is by Dell's family investment fund, not Dell Technologies itself.

A corporate governance forum in South Korea has stated that if Choi and the buyer coordinate their voting actions, they would be required to disclose their combined shareholdings under Korean capital market laws. The forum suggested that failure to do so would violate the law, raising concerns about potential concerted action and disclosure obligations.