S-1 Corp

Activist investor Flashlight Capital Partners has sent a letter to SECOM's board demanding an overhaul of the Japanese security group's overseas strategy. The Singapore-based firm notes that SECOM's May 2023 roadmap targeted overseas revenue of 10% of sales by March 2028, but with 18 months remaining overseas revenue stands at just 5.4%, barely above 5.3% three years ago. Flashlight Capital criticized SECOM's neglect of S-1 Corporation, whose revenue equals 24% of SECOM's but is excluded from consolidation because SECOM's 26% stake falls below the J-GAAP threshold, and called on SECOM to raise its stakes in S-1 and Taiwan SECOM to at least 50% for under JPY156bn, which would lift overseas revenue to roughly 28%. The firm also asked the board to develop a new roadmap with stretch targets and to assess whether current leadership is right to execute the growth plan, with Chief Executive Officer Sanghyun Lee arguing SECOM trades at 6.6x EV/EBITDA versus 9.9x for Verisure and that its share price could re-rate to JPY10,000, 57% upside from current levels. Flashlight Capital posed five questions to the board and requested a response by October 23, 2026.

Flashlight Capital Partners is calling on five Samsung Group affiliates to sell their combined 20.6% stake in S-1 Corporation through an open auction after they rejected its KRW906.6 billion offer. The Singapore-based activist investor said the five affiliates — Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Card and Samsung Securities — declined its August 27 offer to buy their entire holding of 7,815,656 shares at KRW116,000 per share, citing insufficient certainty of completion rather than price. That offer represented a premium of approximately 45% to S-1's closing price on August 26 and exceeded the stock's all-time high. Flashlight Capital founder and managing partner Sanghyun Lee said the affiliates' answer was not a refusal but a rejection of the structure, and argued that an open auction would let every credible buyer, strategic or financial, submit a firm offer. The firm noted that all five affiliates are listed companies whose directors owe duties to their own shareholders, and said holding a non-core minority stake indefinitely after turning down a substantial premium is difficult to reconcile with those duties.

Singapore-based activist investor Flashlight Capital Partners has offered a 45% premium to acquire the combined 20.6% stake held by five Samsung affiliates in S-1 Corp., a security-services provider, for 116,000 won per share, totaling 906.6 billion won ($655 million). The offer, which exceeds S-1's record closing price of 115,000 won from July 2016, gives the Samsung boards until September 23 to respond. Flashlight, which holds less than 5% of S-1, argues that none of the affiliates—Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Securities, and Samsung Card—has a strategic reason to retain the stake, and selling would free up capital for core businesses or shareholder returns. The move is seen as a 'bear hug' tactic, leveraging South Korea's 2025 revision to the Commercial Act that expanded directors' fiduciary duties to all shareholders. Flashlight founder Sanghyun Lee called it the first bear hug in Korea, testing whether boards serve shareholders or the Samsung family. Shares of S-1 jumped as much as 11% before paring gains to around 3%.

Flashlight Capital Partners has issued a public letter to the board and shareholders of S-1 Corporation, calling for a five-point plan to improve governance and unlock value at Korea’s largest security services firm. The activist fund notes that S-1 trades at roughly 3.3 times EV/EBITDA, a steep discount to the 12.0 times for SK Shieldus and 11.1 times for global peers, and that cash and financial assets represent nearly half of its market capitalization. Flashlight Capital’s proposals include a three-year shareholder value roadmap, a five-year strategic plan targeting cybersecurity, drones, and senior care, a capital allocation framework for excess cash, CEO-led quarterly earnings calls, and board reforms to comply with Korea’s amended Commercial Act. The fund says it was rebuffed when it sought discussions with S-1’s CEO and board chairman, and it highlights that every S-1 CEO in the past 25 years has come from within Samsung Group, with the current CEO previously working at a Samsung catering affiliate.