SEOUL -- South Korea's financial regulator suspended share trading of Samsung BioLogics on Wednesday and fined the world's third largest contract drugmaker 8 billion won ($7.05 million), after ruling that it had committed accounting fraud in 2015 to inflate its value ahead of an initial public offering in 2016.
The Securities and Futures Commission also ordered the Korea Exchange, the stock market operator, to review whether Samsung BioLogics should be delisted. This would be a significant blow to the Samsung group, which has bet on the biotech company as a future growth engine to reduce its reliance on the smartphone and semiconductor businesses. The stock market operator is expected to make a final decision in about a month.
