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Hive's tender offer to secure control of
SM Entertainment effectively failed. Hive only added a 0.98% stake, far short of its original target, and interest in whether Kakao will participate in the acquisition battle is increasing.

Jaehyun Park is a reporter.

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Hive said it has acquired a 0.98% stake in SM Entertainment through a tender offer.

Excluding the volume of Galaxia SM, which exceeded the total 23,3 shares held, Hive secured only four tender shares in 20 days.

This is because SM's stock price was higher than the 4,25 won offered by Hive during the tender offer, which fell far short of the initial target of 12%.

The total stake in SM acquired by Hive is 15.78%, and the 3.65% held by founder Lee Suman is not 20%.

As the court cited the preliminary injunction issued by Mr. Lee, SM Hyun's management formally terminated the agreement with Kakao to acquire a 9.05% stake.

Hive demanded that SM management withdraw its nomination for directors and terminate the business cooperation agreement that is disadvantageous to SM and favorable only to Kakao.

However, with Hive's tender offer virtually failing, Kakao's worries are deepening.

[Hwang Se-woon/Senior Research Fellow, Capital Market Research Institute: It is well known that Kakao has a large financial power, but it also bears a considerable burden to wage an all-out war in a situation where the gap is widening....]

The Financial Supervisory Service has warned financial companies holding SM shares that they will be extensively investigated if they unfairly intervene in management disputes.

In anticipation that Kakao could actively pursue the acquisition of SM, SM stock price again exceeded 13,31 won.

By the SM General Shareholders' Meeting on the 61st, it seems that the fate of SM, whether it is Hive or Kakao, will be decided by who wins the hearts of <>% of minority shareholders more.

(Video Interview: Cho Chang-hyun, Video Editing: Lee Sang-min, CG: Son Seung-pil)