[THE INVESTOR] The head of a biotech venture firm has emerged as the fourth-richest man in stock holdings in Korea, industry data showed on Jan. 7.

The value of stocks held by Seo Jung-jin, chairman of biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion Inc., rose to 5.39 trillion won (US$5.06 billion) as of Jan 5, according to market researcher Chaebol.com.

 

Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin

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

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won came in fifth at 4.7 trillion won and Hyundai Motor Group Chung Mong-koo sixth at 4.6 trillion won.

The jump in Seo‘s stock assets came on the listing of Celltrion Healthcare and the planned move of Celltrion to the main KOSPI stock market from the tech-laden Kosdaq market next month.

On Jan. 5, Celltrion closed at 266,900 won (US$250) on the secondary Kosdaq market, with its market cap reaching 32.7 trillion won. The figure hovers above that of POSCO, South Korea’s top steelmaker, which is in the fourth spot on the main bourse at 32 trillion won.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)