Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Chan-jin said Monday both the FSS and Financial Services Commission (FSC) see a potential Solidigm U.S. listing as conflicting with parent-subsidiary rules, while filing requirements remain under review.
Lee made the remarks during a National Assembly audit. Lee said regulators still need to determine whether a Solidigm offering would require a securities-registration filing in South Korea; he later clarified that no formal request for an FSC interpretation had been made, Yonhap reported. That question is separate from the agencies’ assessment under the listing rules.
Revised Korea Exchange listing and disclosure rules took effect Aug. 3. The FSC says they cover overseas listings by subsidiaries of listed companies. For such a listing, the parent’s board must meet five duties, including accounting for shareholder impact and possible protections, then publicly explaining how it reached its decision.
Shareholder approval depends on how the subsidiary was formed. A listing after a split-off requires consent, while the FSC recommends consent for other parent-subsidiary listings. If shareholders have not agreed, the commission says the board’s protection measures face closer scrutiny. The FSC says the policy addresses cases in which parent-company investors face a share-price discount while a subsidiary grows separately.
Reuters reported Sept. 25, citing people familiar with the discussions, that Solidigm was weighing an IPO as early as 2027. The report put a possible valuation at up to $150 billion and potential proceeds at $15 billion. Reuters described the discussions as preliminary, rather than settled terms.
Solidigm became a standalone U.S. subsidiary in December 2021 after SK hynix acquired Intel’s NAND and SSD business. SK hynix said Oct. 1 that no capital plan for Solidigm had been determined and that any financing option would be assessed for its effect on existing shareholders and long-term corporate value. Lee gave no timetable for the FSC’s interpretation.
