A South Korean court on Friday ordered SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay his former wife, Roh Soh-yeong, 944 billion won (HK$5.05 billion) in a high-profile divorce case that has drawn attention to the billionaire's stake in the country's second-largest conglomerate.
The award is substantially lower than the 1.38 trillion won settlement ordered by the appeals court in 2024.
The ruling came after the Supreme Court last year overturned a part of a lower court's verdict on their divorce settlement case, saying alleged funds that Roh's father, former President Roh Tae-woo, had provided to the group could not be treated as a legally protected contribution.
The divorce itself and 2 billion won in damages have already been finalised, leaving only the amount of asset settlement in dispute.
"We apologise for causing concern and will decide whether to appeal after reviewing the court ruling," one of Chey's lawyers said after the ruling.
SK Group's international profile has risen sharply on the back of the AI boom. Chip affiliate SK Hynix has become a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used with Nvidia's AI processors, making the company one of the biggest beneficiaries of surging demand for advanced semiconductors.
That has increased investor focus on Chey's 17.9 percent stake in SK Inc, the group's holding company, and whether a large cash award could force him to raise funds through borrowing, asset sales or share pledges.
The Seoul High Court on Friday again included Chey's SK Inc shares and other holdings in the marital estate and said they should be valued as of April 16, 2024, when the original appeals court concluded fact-finding in the divorce case, citing Supreme Court precedent.
While Chey's shareholdings rose sharply after the original appeal hearing, it said the increase did not warrant adopting a later valuation date and was instead reflected in determining the parties' respective shares of the marital estate.
The court on Friday set the property division ratio at one-third for Roh and two-thirds for Chey, down from the 35 percent share awarded to Roh by the appeals court in 2024.
It also said Chey would retain ownership of the shares and satisfy the award through a cash payment rather than a transfer of stock, citing the shares' role in maintaining management control of the SK Group.
Reuters
