"Confirming SK Affiliation..." Fair Trade Commission Investigates Kin & Partners' 'Daejangdong Investment'

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The Fair Trade Commission has launched an ex officio investigation to verify whether the investment advisory firm 'Kin & Partners,' which provided initial funding to Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu), the lead developer of the Daejang-dong development project, is an affiliate of the SK Group.

According to industry sources on the 27th, the Fair Trade Commission conducted an on-site inspection at the SK Group headquarters in Seoul on the 25th. Kin & Partners, SK Happiness Sharing Foundation, and Wooran Cultural Foundation were also included in the investigation.

Kin & Partners is a company wholly owned by CEO Kim Moon-ho. However, during the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee audit, concerns were raised that Kin & Partners should be considered an SK affiliate because Choi Ki-won, chairman of the SK Happiness Sharing Foundation and younger brother of SK Chairman Choi Tae-won, exercised de facto control by deeply involving himself in personnel matters of former and current Kin & Partners executives.

Chairman Choi also lent a large sum of money to Kin & Partners. In 2015, he lent 40 billion won anonymously under the name 'Individual 3' to Kin & Partners, which then invested the funds in Hwacheon Daeyu.