Former Executive Director Park Cheol-wan of Kumho Petrochemical suffered a complete defeat in the vote against Chairman Park Chan-gu of Kumho Petrochemical.
On the 22nd, Kumho Petrochemical held the 47th regular shareholders' meeting at Signature Towers in Jung-gu, Seoul, where they handled agenda items including amendments to the articles of incorporation and the appointment of outside directors (audit committee members). Although the meeting was scheduled to start at 9 a.m., it began at 10 a.m. due to time taken for proxy verification and inspection.
The agenda proposed by Cha Partners Asset Management (Cha Partners), to which former Executive Director Park delegated shareholder proposal rights, regarding the amendment of the articles of incorporation for treasury stock cancellation was rejected. Accordingly, the agenda for the complete cancellation of treasury stock proposed by Cha Partners was automatically discarded.
Additionally, the appointment of Choi Do-seon, the current president of Handong Global University, as an audit committee member (outside director) was approved at the shareholders' meeting. Cha Partners proposed Kim Kyung-ho, chairman of the KB Financial Group board, as an outside director, but he lost in the vote.
Former Executive Director Park had attempted shareholder proposals twice before in 2021 and 2022, but both ended in Chairman Park's victory. Last year, when Kumho Petrochemical and OCI Group established a joint venture and exchanged treasury stocks worth 31.5 billion KRW, Park claimed it was for the purpose of defending management rights and filed a lawsuit to invalidate the disposal of treasury stock, but lost.
This year as well, ahead of the shareholders' meeting, global proxy advisory firms sided with Kumho Petrochemical, making the outcome predictable. Global proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis supported Chairman Park in the vote at the shareholders' meeting on the 22nd.
Furthermore, the day before, the National Pension Service opposed the agenda for treasury stock cancellation and supported the board-recommended candidate Choi Do-seon for outside director, siding with Chairman Park.
Former Executive Director Park is the largest individual shareholder of Kumho Petrochemical with a 9.01% stake. He has allies including his mother-in-law Kim Hyung-il (0.09%), his father-in-law Heo Kyung-soo, chairman of Cosmo Chemical (0.06%), and his sisters Park Eun-hyung, Eun-kyung, and Eun-hye (each 0.53%). Chairman Park holds 7.14%, his eldest son Park Jun-kyung, president, holds 7.65%, and his eldest daughter Park Ju-hyung, vice president, holds 1.04% of shares.
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