SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won Appeals 944 Billion Won Divorce Settlement to Supreme Court

The Quick Take

• SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won has filed for Supreme Court review of a ruling ordering him to pay 944 billion won in property division
• The re-appeal extends a 9-year legal battle with former wife Roh So-young; the original ruling was Korea's largest-ever marital property settlement
• Analysts are watching how Chey would raise 944 billion won, with potential implications for SK Group share structure and capital

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won has re-appealed to South Korea's Supreme Court against the ruling that he must pay 944 billion won — approximately $685 million — to his former wife Roh So-young as part of a divorce property settlement. The re-appeal, filed just before the deadline, extends what is now a nine-year legal battle over what South Korean courts have called the largest marital property division ruling in the country's history. The April appeals court ruling had already been the second major court decision in the case, and Chey's legal team is seeking a final definitive ruling from the Supreme Court, South Korea's highest judicial authority.

The financial market implications centre on how Chey would finance a 944 billion won payment if the Supreme Court upholds the ruling. As SK Group's controlling shareholder and chairman, Chey holds significant shareholdings across SK Holdings, SK Hynix, and other group affiliates. Liquidating meaningful stakes to fund the settlement would introduce supply pressure into these stocks and potentially change the effective voting control and governance dynamics within the SK conglomerate structure. Korean corporate governance analysts note that SK Group's complex cross-shareholding structure makes it particularly sensitive to large equity stake movements by the controlling family.

The Supreme Court's eventual ruling timeline is uncertain — Korean Supreme Court reviews can take one to three years — meaning near-term market impact is limited, but the long-term governance scenario is worth monitoring. The macro variable for SK Group is SK Hynix's performance, which is the group's highest-market-capitalisation affiliate and the primary source of the group's equity value. Strong SK Hynix earnings from AI memory chip demand have significantly increased the paper value of Chey's stakes, paradoxically raising the stakes of the settlement outcome. Watch for any announcements of stake pledges, trust arrangements, or structured financing that Chey's legal team might arrange as alternative mechanisms to avoid direct share liquidation.

Synthesized from 5 sources.