[비즈한국] Two weeks ago, the three daughters of Global Sae-A Chairman Kim Woong-ki (Kim Se-yeon, Kim Jin-ah, and Kim Se-ra) sold their 100% stake in S2A, an art brokerage and consignment firm, to Sae-A Trading, the core subsidiary of Global Sae-A. Why did Sae-A Trading acquire S2A, a company suffering from accumulated losses and complete capital impairment?
S2A originated from Sae-A Global CNS, a system integration (SI) firm established in 2013. In November 2021, the company deleted its original business objectives, pivoted to focus on art trading and brokerage, and changed its name to S2A. As the entire stake was held by Chairman Kim Woong-ki’s three daughters, it was previously analyzed that the firm might be utilized for future succession. The ownership of S2A was split between the eldest daughter, Kim Se-yeon (34%), and the second daughter, Global Sae-A President Kim Jin-ah, and third daughter, Sae-A Trading Vice President Kim Se-ra (33% each).
In November 2021, when the name was changed, S2A also conducted a capital increase, raising its capital from 50 million won to 3.05 billion won. Given that there was no change in shareholders at the time, it can be assumed that Chairman Kim’s three daughters participated in the capital increase. However, due to accumulated losses, the total equity dropped to -5.5 billion won by 2023, eventually leading to complete capital impairment. Consequently, S2A operated by borrowing operating funds from Sae-A Trading; this year alone, the borrowed amount reached approximately 55.6 billion won.
Against this backdrop, Sae-A Trading acquired 100% of S2A’s shares on September 24. The acquisition price was 1 won per share, totaling 6.1 million won, meaning Chairman Kim’s three daughters walked away with only about 2 million won each from the sale. Contrary to earlier expectations, it turns out that S2A was a company unrelated to the succession plan.
Following the acquisition, Sae-A Trading revived the capital-impaired S2A through a capital increase. According to public disclosures, on the 4th, S2A announced a 9.5 billion won capital increase, with Sae-A Trading participating in the shareholder-allocated paid-in capital increase. A Sae-A Group official explained, "We increased capital to resolve the capital impairment and ensure stable operations, as S2A's operating conditions were poor."
S2A, now incorporated as a subsidiary of Sae-A Trading, is expected to continue its art business operations. As of now, Sae-A Trading has not changed S2A's business objectives, nor has there been any change in the composition of the board of directors. The aforementioned Sae-A Group official stated, "There are no plans to change the business objectives, and as S2A is already involved in activities like hosting free art exhibitions, we intend to strengthen the company’s social contribution aspect."
Chairman Kim Woong-ki is also known as an art collector. In July 2022, he purchased artist Kim Whanki’s masterpiece, 'Universe 5-IV-71 #200', for 88 million HKD (approximately 13.2 billion won) at a Christie’s Hong Kong auction. It remains the highest price ever fetched for a piece of Korean art at auction. Chairman Kim had previously loaned the work to S2A free of charge for public art appreciation.