The top executives at South Korea’s chemical and battery manufacturer LG Chem Ltd. have bought a handful of the company`s treasury stocks ahead of the company’s planned merger with LG Life Science in a show of will and confidence in the merger plan that has been unsettling investors and shareholders.

The chemical company announced on Monday that its Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Park Jin-soo purchased 700 stocks in the company; Yoo Jin-Nyung, head of technology research center, 713 shares; Lee Woong-beom, president of battery business division, 500 shares; Chief Financial Officer Jeong, Ho-Young, 450 shares; and Son Ok-dong, president of basic materials business division, 700 shares.

This is the seventh time for Park to buy shares in the company since he took office as CEO in December 2012. With the latest purchase, he owns 4,830 common shares and 1,527 preferred shares.

LG Group announced last month that it would merge LG Chem with LG Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical unit of LG Group, as part of efforts to diversify its business portfolio. The merger plan, however, sparked concerns over the company’s growth among industry observers and investors who argued that the company should focus more on its core chemical and battery businesses than bio and pharmaceutical businesses.

Since the announcement, LG Chem shares have remained weak. Its president and chief financial officer Chung Ho-young recently hosted an investors relation (IR) conference call to explain more about the merger plan. Chung also said in an interview with Maeil Business Newspaper last Friday that LG Chem Ltd. would invest 100 billion won ($88 million) in LG Life Sciences annually for the next five years after the merger.

As of 3:10 p.m. on Tuesday, LG Chem shares were down 1.0 percent, or 2,500 won, from the previous session, trading at 248,500 won.

By Yoon Jin-ho

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