Korea Zinc’s attempt to establish a joint venture with U.S. partners and proceed with a third-party share offering to fund its Tennessee smelter project may face delays due to U.S. antitrust regulations, according to officials in legal and investment banking circles Thursday. This raised the likelihood that the capital increase, originally slated for completion this month, could be postponed. Any delay may also undermine Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-beom’s plan to allocate about a 10 percent stake to the joint venture ahead of the Dec. 30 shareholder record date and counter the Young Poong-MBK Partners alliance at next year’s shareholders’ meeting. The alliance is the largest shareholder of the world’s biggest zinc smelter and has challenged Choi’s leadership since launching a tender offer on Sept. 13, 2024, arguing that his mismanagement has weakened the company’s financial health. Korea Zinc said Monday it plans to establish a joint venture with the U.S. government and corporations to build a large-scale smelter in Tennessee. The project entails an investment of about 10