Joo Jin-woo, Chairman of Sajo Group, Successfully Defends Management Rights... Small Shareholders' 'Revolt' Fails

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Joo Jin-woo, chairman of the Sajo Group (pictured), who had been embroiled in a management rights dispute with minority shareholders, has successfully defended his management rights.

Sajo Industrial announced on the 14th that the proposal to dismiss Chairman Joo from his registered director position was rejected at the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders held on the same day. Chairman Joo holds a 14.24% stake in Sajo Industrial, and when combined with shares held by related parties, his side's stake amounts to 56.56%.

Minority shareholders had raised issues regarding Sajo Industrial's push last year to merge the golf club owned by the company with the golf club where Joo Ji-hong, Chairman Joo's son, is the largest shareholder. They also pointed out losses from the golf courses owned by Sajo Industrial and failures in overseas businesses.

At the extraordinary general meeting, the agenda item proposed by the board of directors, "Partial amendment of the articles of incorporation including the formation of the audit committee," was passed. The amended articles include the provision that "all audit committee members shall be outside directors." Accordingly, the proposal to appoint Song Jong-guk, representative of the Minority Shareholders Coalition, as an audit committee member and other non-executive director was automatically discarded.

Additionally, in the vote for appointing an outside director as an audit committee member, the board's recommended candidate, certified public accountant Ahn Young-sik of Daesung Samkyung Accounting Corporation, was selected instead of Song, the representative of the minority shareholders.

Previously, the Minority Shareholders Coalition had proposed agenda items including the dismissal of director Joo Jin-woo and audit committee members, the appointment of one separately elected audit committee member and shareholder-proposed outside directors, and the acquisition of 200,000 treasury shares for the purpose of stock cancellation.

Meanwhile, the extraordinary general meeting, originally scheduled for 9 a.m., was delayed by about three hours as the minority shareholders raised concerns over incomplete documents in some of the company's proxy forms, prompting a re-verification process.