Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-beom (center) holds a press conference on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

A tender offer by private equity firm MBK Partners to gain a controlling stake in Korea Zinc Inc., the world's biggest zinc smelter, is set to expire Friday, with all eyes on how the smelter's stock would perform, some analysts said.

MBK, in cooperation with Young Poong Corp., the largest shareholder of Korea Zinc, raised its original tender offer price for Korea Zinc last week to 750,000 won ($567) per share from 660,000 won.

In a rare counteroffer this week, Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-beom said the company decided to repurchase and cancel its own shares at a price of 830,000 won per share, starting from Friday and running until Oct. 23.

Shares of Korea Zinc jumped 6.17 percent to 757,000 won at one point Friday morning.

The battle for management control of Korea Zinc has heated up as MBK teamed up with Young Poong and launched the public tender offer in mid-September to acquire a stake of up to 14.61 percent in the smelter.

Young Poong and investors supportive of it controlled a 33.13 percent stake, while Choi, the chairman of Korea Zinc, and his supporting investors controlled a 33.99 percent stake, according to industry sources.

The ongoing conflict marks the end of decadeslong cooperation between Young Poong and Korea Zinc, which were co-founded in 1974 by Chang Byung-hee and Choi Ki-ho.

Since the founding, the Choi family has managed Korea Zinc, while the Chang family is in charge of Young Poong and other electronic parts affiliates.

Tensions escalated in 2022, when Choi Yun-beom, grandson of co-founder Choi Ki-ho, became chairman of Korea Zinc and sought to separate the company from Young Poong, sparking the current battle for control. (Yonhap)