Seojin Seok, OCI President, Joins Hanmi Pharm Board... Accelerating Human Integration

The integration between Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group and OCI Group is gaining momentum. Prior to the full-scale merger of the holding companies, a personnel integration is taking place, with key executives from each group's pharmaceutical business companies joining the counterpart group.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical Headquarters View
[Photo by Hanmi Pharmaceutical]

On the 27th, Seo Jin-seok, President of OCI Holdings and Bukwang Pharmaceutical, joined Hanmi Pharmaceutical as a registered director after his appointment as an inside director was approved at Hanmi Pharmaceutical's regular shareholders' meeting held at the Lavidol Hotel in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Seo's term is three years.

This marks the second personnel exchange since the integration of the two groups in January. Earlier, on the 22nd, Woo Ki-seok, a co-CEO from Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group, joined Bukwang Pharmaceutical, a pharmaceutical company under OCI Group. Woo previously served as the CEO of Online Pharm, a distribution-specialized subsidiary of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group. Woo is expected to lead Bukwang Pharmaceutical alongside Lee Jae-young, co-CEO and Executive Director of OCI Holdings' Strategic Planning Office.

Meanwhile, Lim Jong-yoon, President of Hanmi Pharmaceutical, whose term as an inside director expired the day before, was not reappointed at this shareholders' meeting and thus stepped down from Hanmi Pharmaceutical's board. Currently, Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group is experiencing conflict as Lim Jong-yoon and his brother Jong-hoon oppose the integration led by Chairman Song Young-sook, wife of the late founder Lim Seong-gi, and Lim Joo-hyun, President of Hanmi Science. In relation to this, the group dismissed Lim Jong-yoon and Lim Jong-hoon on the 25th, stating that they "caused disputes and inflicted irreparable damage to the company."

The conflict between the two sides is expected to be resolved at the regular shareholders' meeting of Hanmi Science, the holding company of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group, held at the same location on the 28th. Currently, Hanmi Science's board consists of four members aligned with the mother and daughter faction. The brothers have submitted a shareholder proposal to appoint five directors, including themselves, at this meeting. The mother and daughter faction responded by proposing to appoint six additional directors, the maximum allowed under the articles of incorporation. The outcome of the shareholders' meeting will determine which faction controls the board.

Although the brothers seemed to have the upper hand by securing Shin Dong-guk of Hanyang Precision, the largest individual shareholder of Hanmi Science, as an ally, the mother and daughter faction regained the advantage after the National Pension Service expressed support for their proposal on the 26th. Both sides are now focusing all efforts on winning the votes of the remaining minority shareholders.