YG Entertainment is preparing to repay LVMH Moët Hennessy its investment worth 67 billion won, the Maeil Business News Korea reported on July 12.
The fact that stock prices have dropped by more than 40 percent in half a year owing to a series of negative factors, starting with scandals involving singers belonging to YG at the beginning of the year, followed by tax investigations, and allegations of corruption involving former CEO Yang Hyun-suk, reportedly affected the decision.
According to the media, YG Entertainment has recently started funding preparation as the maturity of its Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stocks (RCPS) for Great World Music Investment Pte. Ltd., an investment firm affiliated with LVMH Group, is about 100 days away.
YG Entertainment received a total of 61.05 billion won worth of investment from Louis Vuitton in October 2014, promising to convert into stocks or payback cash five years later this year. The number of shares amounts to 1,359,688. If Louis Vuitton does not choose a stock conversion and asks for repayment of the investment, YG Entertainment should return about 67 billion won, which adds 2 percent annual interest, according to the media.
"YG Entertainment has been mulling over how to handle the investment after unexpected negative factors occurred at the beginning of this year when the maturity of 61 billion won of investment from Louis Vuitton is due in October. The letter, which Louis Vuitton officially requests for repayment, is also expected to arrive as early as the end of this month or next month," said a representative for an IB industry.
Meanwhile, in June 2015, CEO Yang met with Bernard Arnault, chairman of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy Group, at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul. After the meeting with Arnault, Yang posted a photo of him standing with Arnault, along with the message "With Mr. Bernard Arnault of LVMH" on his SNS account.