Seoul Credit Rating & Information's Largest Shareholder to Buy 500,000 Shares on Open Market, Confident in AI and Digital Finance Growth

The largest shareholder of Seoul Credit Rating & Information, a comprehensive credit information company, is moving to increase its stake. With earnings continuing to grow, the company aims to secure new long-term growth drivers through businesses such as artificial intelligence (AI) and digital finance.

Seoul Credit Rating & Information said on Nov. 3 that its largest shareholder, Jinwon Holdings Company, had decided to purchase 500,000 shares of the company on the open market. Once the purchase is complete, Jinwon Holdings Company's stake is expected to rise by 1.43 percentage points, from 18.35% to approximately 19.78%.

The company said the increase in the stake reflects the largest shareholder's confidence in the company's sustained earnings growth and the potential of its AI and new financial services businesses. The largest shareholder and other related parties also plan to acquire additional shares, based on their confidence in the company's medium- to long-term growth prospects and corporate value.

Seoul Credit Rating & Information is improving profitability by strengthening the competitiveness of its core businesses and pursuing greater management efficiency. Its consolidated operating profit rose 31% from the previous year to 6.8 billion won last year. In the first half of this year, operating profit also increased 14% from the same period a year earlier to 7.66 billion won.

The company is also accelerating efforts to improve work efficiency through AI and restructure its business. Building on its existing credit information business, it is expanding into AI and digital finance to secure new revenue sources.

It has signed a business agreement with Joonggonara to establish an AI-based safe trading environment and is pursuing collaboration on technology to predict transaction risks and detect suspicious transactions. It has also joined as a strategic investor in a consortium with Nextrade and Musicow to establish an over-the-counter exchange for tokenized securities (STOs), laying the groundwork for entry into the digital finance infrastructure market.

The company has also launched BizOneClick, an integrated business information lookup service. It aims to strengthen the competitiveness of its existing businesses and expand data-driven financial services by combining its accumulated credit information and assessment expertise with AI technology.

A Seoul Credit Rating & Information official said, "The largest shareholder's decision to purchase shares on the open market demonstrates confidence in the company's sustained earnings growth and the potential of its new AI and digital finance businesses." The official added, "We will strengthen the profitability of our existing businesses and deliver tangible results from our new financial services to increase corporate and shareholder value over the medium to long term."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.