Samsung Biologics Falls on Yonhap Report of FSS Special Audit

(Bloomberg) -- Samsung Biologics Co., the South Korean drug contract manufacturer, fell in Seoul trading after local news agency Yonhap reported that the country’s Financial Supervisory Service would conduct a special audit on the company.

The stock dropped as much as 5.7 percent before trading 4 percent lower at 10:11 a.m. local time. The company is the pharmaceutical manufacturing arm of the conglomerate Samsung Group. The special assessment would be conducted after some “unclear parts” in an audit reviewed by the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants before Samsung Biologics initial public offering, Yonhap said.

Samsung Biologics has “not yet received any official notification” about any audit but would fully cooperate and “use this opportunity to prove further that we have maintained high bookkeeping standards” if a review took place, it said in an emailed response to questions.

The company also referred to a February press release, detailing that it had reviewed bookkeeping standards with several accounting firms and five global securities firms, and followed the appropriate legal procedures.

FSS official Kim Sang-won declined to comment on the report when reached by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporters on this story: Natasha Khan in Hong Kong at nkhan51@bloomberg.net, Heesu Lee in Seoul at hlee425@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anjali Cordeiro at acordeiro2@bloomberg.net, Kenneth Wong

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.