Key facts
- SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is selling a 1.34% stake in SK Inc.
- The stake is being sold to DFO Public Investments, a fund linked to Michael Dell's family office.
- The sale is for 544 billion won ($406 million).
- The proceeds will help Chey pay a divorce settlement.
- Dell Technologies is a supplier of AI servers and data center infrastructure.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has agreed to sell a 1.34% stake in the group's holding company, SK Inc., to an investment fund affiliated with Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell for 544 billion won ($406 million), according to a regulatory filing. This transaction is part of Chey's broader plan to raise 944 billion won through share sales to meet a divorce settlement obligation.
The buyer, DFO Public Investments, L.P., is a Delaware-based fund managed by DFO Management, the family investment office of Michael Dell. Earlier in October, SK Inc. had announced Chey's agreement to sell a larger stake of 2.26% for 944 billion won. Of that total, a portion of 0.94% will be sold to Korea Investment & Securities for 400 billion won.
Dell Technologies, a significant supplier of AI servers and data center infrastructure, has existing business connections with SK Hynix, SK Group's semiconductor arm. The stake acquisition is being made by a Dell family investment fund, not the public company itself. The remaining shares were initially identified only as being sold to a 'strategic investor' who had considered SK Inc.'s business competitiveness and growth prospects.
Concerns have been raised by the Korea Corporate Governance Forum, an independent watchdog, regarding potential joint holding disclosures. The forum stated that if Chey and the buyers have agreed, even informally, to exercise voting rights in unison, they would be required to disclose their stakes as joint holdings under South Korean capital markets law. The forum noted that the suggestion of aligned interests from the strategic investor could lead to the fund being deemed a joint holder with Chey.