Park Cheolwan Kumho Petrochemical Executive Director "No Problem with Shareholder Proposal to Expand Dividends"

Park Cheol-wan, Executive Director at Kumho Petrochemical

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Park Cheol-wan, Executive Director of Kumho Petrochemical, who is engaged in a management rights dispute with his uncle, Park Chan-gu, Chairman of Kumho Petrochemical, demanded that the cash dividend proposal he submitted as a shareholder proposal be put on the board agenda, stating that there are no procedural issues in submitting it as an agenda item for the general shareholders' meeting. He also announced that he would soon release a statement on his position.

On the 21st, through his legal representative KL Partners, Executive Director Park stated, "There are reports that the cash dividend proposal among the shareholder proposals may be difficult to be included as an agenda item at the regular shareholders' meeting scheduled for March, but Kumho Petrochemical has no grounds to reject the shareholder proposal."

This was a rebuttal to media reports suggesting that the cash dividend proposal among Executive Director Park’s shareholder proposals might be difficult to be included as an agenda item at the regular shareholders' meeting. Recently, through his shareholder proposal, Park demanded a dividend of 11,000 KRW per common share and 11,100 KRW per preferred share.

Park’s side stated, "The company claims that our proposed preferred stock dividend amount exceeds by about 200 million KRW based on the issuance conditions set by the company’s past board resolutions, and thus argues that it is an illegal shareholder proposal," and rebutted, "This is information that cannot be known from the company’s articles of incorporation or the registry, and the issuance conditions of the preferred shares currently claimed by the company are unknown to shareholders because the company arbitrarily deleted them from the registry."

Executive Director Park said, "Since the preferred stock dividend is linked to the common stock dividend, the reason the company presents cannot be grounds to reject the shareholder proposal."

He also pointed out that Kumho Petrochemical’s articles of incorporation do not specify the issuance conditions of the old preferred shares and only stipulate that 'for non-voting preferred shares, dividends shall be paid in cash based on the par value at a preferred dividend rate determined by the board of directors at issuance, ranging from 1% to 20% annually.'

Meanwhile, Executive Director Park has announced that he will clarify his position regarding the shareholder proposal. KL Partners stated, "As the largest individual shareholder and an executive, Executive Director Park is making a legitimate shareholder proposal to enhance corporate and shareholder value," and "he plans to disclose detailed positions and intentions regarding the shareholder proposal soon."