[비즈한국] SK Securities SPAC 9 (455910), a KOSDAQ-listed SPAC, has entered the delisting process. According to the Korea Exchange disclosure, trading of SK Securities SPAC 9 shares was suspended on February 19 due to the occurrence of grounds for delisting. Following the exchange's schedule, liquidation trading will take place for 7 business days from February 20 to March 3, after which the stock will be delisted on March 4.
This process is less of a 'sudden accident' and more the result of the deadline set by the SPAC system. The exchange noted in its delisting details that SK Securities SPAC 9 was designated as an administrative issue on January 14 due to reasons including the 'failure to submit a preliminary merger listing application,' and failed to resolve these issues within one month.
Since the core purpose of a SPAC is to 'find a target company for a merger and take it public,' it is designed to lead to administrative designation and delisting if the merger process does not get on track by a certain point. According to analysis by capital market research institutions, domestic SPACs typically have a lifespan of 36 months (3 years). If a preliminary merger listing application is not submitted 6 months before maturity, the SPAC is designated as an administrative issue, and if the issue is not resolved within a set period following this designation, it proceeds to delisting.
For investors, the most critical period is the liquidation trading phase. Liquidation trading is a system designed to provide shareholders of delisted stocks with a 'final opportunity to liquidate.' Typically, price fluctuation limits do not apply, and trades are executed 13 times a day via 30-minute interval single-price auctions. For SK Securities SPAC 9, liquidation trading will be permitted for only 7 business days (February 20 to March 3) as announced by the exchange, and during this period, prices may fluctuate significantly in a short time. Because the structure involves orders accumulating over 30 minutes to determine a single price rather than real-time matching, volatility can be higher if buyers and sellers have different views on 'liquidation value' or if sell-off/liquidation demands surge at once.
This case is receiving market attention due to concerns that it might not be limited to the 'delisting of just one stock.' In fact, exchange disclosures indicate that SK Securities SPAC 10 also had a preliminary merger listing application deadline of February 3 and a designation date (scheduled) of February 4, which is fueling talk in the SPAC market about the "possibility of a chain of administrative designations and delistings." Market observers also suggest that since the application deadlines for subsequent SPACs will follow sequentially starting in the second half of this year, both the deal-sourcing capabilities of brokerage firms' SPAC lineups and the screening environment are being put to the test.
As trading will no longer be possible on the exchange market after the delisting on March 4, when liquidation trading concludes, investors holding the stock should first check the trading method and schedule for the liquidation period, as well as the timing options available to them for liquidation.