[Newsmaker] Chey Tae-won back in SK boardroom

Without drama, SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won won his way back into the boardroom of the group’s holding firm SK Holdings on Friday, a key outcome of the “Super Friday” glut of shareholders meetings in Korea.

More than 300 companies, including 10 SK companies, seven LG units and four Lotte affiliates, held their annual congress of shareholders on the day.

As in previous years, shareholder debate or a vote battle to turn down a presented agenda item was a rare sight. 

In one of those rare scenes, the National Pension Service, SK Holding’s No. 2 shareholder with an 8.57 percent stake, opposed Chey’s board directorship at the SK unit’s shareholder meeting in Seoul. But it stopped far short of blocking the ascension of the largest shareholder, who owns over 23 percent of the company’s shares. 

“The ballot was comfortably in favor of the agenda,” SK Holdings said, without disclosing the vote count. Some 89.3 percent of shareholders with voting rights were in attendance or represented.

The chairman’s return to the boardroom comes seven months after his release from jail on a presidential pardon on Aug. 15 last year. The tycoon, who inherited Korea’s third-largest conglomerate from his father, spent more than three years behind bars, convicted of embezzlement.

“The chairman sees the board directorship as a way of enhancing his responsibility for management decisions,” an SK official said.

Chey wasted no time in his regained role, chairing a board meeting immediately after the shareholders meeting. 

Over at Hyosung, Hyosung Group chairman Cho Seok-rae and his two sons secured seats in the boardroom at a shareholder meeting that lasted for just 20 minutes.

There was no objection made to their appointments, despite Cho’s recent conviction on accounting fraud and tax evasion charges.

The mood was somber at Hyundai Merchant Marine, where shareholders agreed to a painful capital reduction plan in order to avoid a stock market delisting.

The country‘s No. 2 shipping line has been struggling with mounting losses, as freight rates fall amid global trade woes. Following shareholders’ approval, the shipper will proceed with its plan to reduce capital to one-seventh of its current value, swapping every seven existing shares with one new share.

Also at the meeting, Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun stepped down as board chairperson and registered director, her way of assuming responsibility for the firm’s predicaments.

At CJ Group, the group‘s ailing chairman Lee Jay-hyun bowed out of the boardrooms of its two main pillars -- CJ Corp. and CJ Cheiljedang.

The two companies’ shareholders, at their respective meetings Friday, approved Lee’s replacements -- Shin Hyun-jae, vice president of the group’s holding company CJ Corp., and Huh Min-hoe, vice president of CJ Cheiljedang.

Citing his deteriorating health conditions since 2013, the CJ chief has been replaced on the boards of CJ’s five affiliates, including CJ E&M, its thriving entertainment business.

Joining the board of CJ Cheiljedang in 1994, Lee turned the food processing firm into an entertainment and food giant. A series of legal disputes, however, has weakened his control over the group.

Lee was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison by the Seoul High Court last year for embezzlement and tax evasion. He has appealed to the Supreme Court, and is currently in a hospital awaiting the court’s decision. The top court on Friday approved Lee’s plea for suspending his jail term for another four months until July 21. The chairman has had his jail term suspended several times, citing the need for medical treatment.

By Lee Sun-young & Cho Chung-un 
(milaya@heraldcorp.com)
(christory@heraldcorp.com)