Dell's family office buys SK stake that Chey Tae-won is selling to fund his divorce settlement
A fund linked to DFO Management, Michael Dell's family investment office, is buying 1.34% of SK Inc from SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won for 544bn won (about $406m), part of the cash Chey must raise for a court-ordered property division.
On 14 October 2026, a regulatory filing in Seoul identified the buyer of a block of SK Inc shares being sold by Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group. DFO Public Investments, L.P., a Delaware fund affiliated with DFO Management, the family investment office of Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, has agreed to buy 972,493 shares, or 1.34% of the group’s holding company, for 544bn won (about $406m), Reuters reported.
According to SBS Biz, which read the same disclosure on the Financial Supervisory Service’s DART system, the contract was signed on 2 October at 559,387 won per share. Settlement is scheduled for 2 November and may take place as late as 1 December.
Why the shares are for sale
The sale funds a divorce. On 24 July 2026 the Seoul High Court, rehearing the property division between Chey and Roh Soh-yeong after a remand, ordered him to pay her 944bn won, Newsis reported. The court chose a cash payment over a transfer of shares because Chey’s SK Inc holding underpins his control of the group. That kept the shares out of the settlement but left him to find the cash.
SK Inc said earlier this month that Chey would sell 2.26% of the company for 944bn won, initially naming the buyer only as a “strategic investor”. The other 0.94% goes to Korea Investment & Securities for 400bn won, with a three-year price return swap attached: Chey settles the difference between the eventual resale price and a reference price, so he keeps the market risk on those shares. He has pledged 204,429 SK Inc shares, a collateral limit of roughly 120bn won, to secure that obligation. Once both trades close, his direct holding falls from 17.90% to about 15.62%.
A family office on the other side
The Dell connection is commercial as well as financial. Dell Technologies buys memory for AI servers, and SK Hynix, SK Group’s chipmaker, is a supplier. Reuters notes that the shares go to the Dell family fund, not to Dell Technologies. DFO was last in these pages in September, when it agreed with Sequence Holdings to take The Baldwin Group private.
The deal has already drawn a governance warning. The Korea Corporate Governance Forum, an independent watchdog, told Reuters that if Chey and the buyers have agreed, even informally, to vote the same way, they must disclose their stakes as joint holdings under Korean capital markets law, and that the “strategic investor” label hinted at aligned interests.
What it means for family offices
A court ordering cash rather than shares does not remove the pressure on a founder’s stake; it moves it to whoever can write a large cheque quickly. For families whose wealth sits in one listed holding company, the lesson is to plan liquidity for a divorce or succession event before a court sets the timetable, including pledges, swaps and pre-agreed buyers. For family offices acting as buyers, a friendly block from a controlling shareholder can look attractive, but the Korean forum’s warning shows the cost: any understanding on voting can turn a passive stake into a disclosable concert party, with the regulatory exposure that brings.
Sources: Reuters, via The Star (14 October 2026); SBS Biz (14 October 2026); Newsis (24 July 2026).