Celltrion head becomes Korea’s fourth-richest stockholder

The head of a biotech company has emerged as the fourth-richest stockholder in Korea, industry data showed Sunday, amid a biopharm boom in the country.

The value of stocks held by Seo Jung-jin, chairman of Celltrion, rose to 5.39 trillion won ($5.06 billion) as of Friday, according to market researcher Chaebul.com.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee topped the list with 18.7 trillion won, followed by Lee Jae-yong, his only son and Samsung Electronics vice chairman, with 8.1 trillion won, and Suh Kyung-bae, president of top cosmetics maker AmorePacific, with 8.05 trillion won.

SK Group’s Chey Tae-won was fifth with 4.7 trillion won and Hyundai Motor Group’s Chung Mong-koo sixth with 4.6 trillion won.

The jump in Seo’s stock holdings came after the listing of Celltrion Healthcare and the planned move of Celltrion to the main Kospi from the tech-laden Kosdaq next month.

On Friday, Celltrion closed at 266,900 won on the Kosdaq, with its market cap reaching 32.7 trillion won. The figure hovers above that of steelmaker Posco, which is fourth on the Kospi with 32 trillion won.

Market watchers said that in the near future, the market cap of Celltrion may surpass that of Hyundai Motor, which is currently third on the Kospi with 32.8 trillion won. Yonhap