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(Seoul=Yonhap Infomax) Kyu Sun Lee –
Stick Investment Co., a leading South Korean private equity firm, has announced it will allocate approximately 22% of its treasury shares to fund a new restricted stock unit (RSU) program for employees, following pressure from activist fund Align Partners Asset Management to cancel its treasury shares.
On the 21st, Stick Investment disclosed after a board meeting that it had approved the introduction of an RSU scheme and the distribution of treasury shares to employees as part of its performance-based compensation plan.
The company plans to grant 1.25 million shares—representing about 22.19% of its 5,633,228 treasury shares—to employees by December 2032. The first tranche of 150,000 shares will be awarded in December this year, with vesting to occur in installments over three years, contingent on employees meeting tenure and performance requirements.
Stick Investment stated, “The initiative aims to align the interests of shareholders and employees, attract and retain top talent, and incentivize high-performing staff.”
This marks the first concrete plan for the use of treasury shares since the recent dispute with Align Partners over their disposal. Align Partners has argued that Stick Investment should cancel its treasury shares, which account for over 13% of the company’s outstanding shares. However, Stick Investment has maintained that the shares could be used for employee compensation or mergers and acquisitions (M&A), rather than cancellation.
An Align Partners representative commented, “We agree with the direction of aligning shareholder and employee interests through stock-based compensation, but the remaining treasury shares, excluding the 22% set aside for compensation, should be cancelled.” The representative also emphasized the importance of setting performance indicators (KPIs) linked to shareholder value.
Stick Investment did not disclose specific performance criteria for the RSU program in its latest filing.
kslee2@yna.co.kr
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