SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea has been ordered to pay New York hedge fund Mason Capital Management more than $32 million, the Ministry of Justice said on Thursday, in a dispute stemming from the 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates.
Mason Capital had claimed $200 million in its case with the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), but its argument was only partly accepted.
Mason Capital argued that its investors suffered damage as a result of government influence over the decision of South Korea’s largest pension fund, the National Pension Service (NPS), to approve the $8 billion merger of Samsung affiliates Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries in 2015.
Last year, the PCA ordered the South Korean government to pay U.S. hedge fund Elliott about $108.5 million in a case stemming from the same merger.
In the Mason Capital case, the PCA ordered the South Korean government to pay Mason Capital about $11 million in fees and interest in addition to the $32 million award, the justice ministry said.
The ministry said it would “issue its analysis of the ruling and future plan” later. Mason Capital did not have an immediate comment.
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Comments