World's Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund Opposes Introduction of Concentrated Voting System at Korea Zinc

The world's largest sovereign wealth fund, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, opposed the introduction of cumulative voting at the Korea Zinc extraordinary general meeting scheduled for the 23rd and supported the appointment of director candidates recommended by MBK Partners and Youngpoong.

According to MBK Partners on the 19th, NBIM, which manages the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, disclosed the voting results on the Korea Zinc extraordinary general meeting agenda through its website the previous afternoon.

Managing assets worth approximately 2,500 trillion KRW in Korean won, NBIM opposed the introduction of cumulative voting, the main issue of this extraordinary general meeting, and also opposed the limitation of the number of directors to 19, which many proxy advisory firms recommended in favor of.

Regarding director candidates, NBIM opposed all candidates recommended by Korea Zinc and voted in favor of all 14 candidates recommended by MBK and Youngpoong.

NBIM explained its opposition to cumulative voting by stating that "a firm nomination and election process must be in place to ensure an effective board of directors accountable to shareholders."

NBIM also explained, "We consider whether the board has failed to take appropriate actions in response to shareholders' requests, attempted to avoid shareholder proposals, or restricted shareholders' rights without their approval."

In response, MBK Partners emphasized that NBIM pointed out that the Korea Zinc board of directors did not do its best for the benefit of shareholders.

NBIM's judgment aligns with major U.S. pension funds such as the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS). These pension funds also opposed the introduction of cumulative voting at this Korea Zinc extraordinary general meeting.

In contrast, the National Pension Service supported the introduction of cumulative voting on the 17th and decided to concentrate votes on three candidates each from Korea Zinc and MBK and Youngpoong.

Earlier, Youngpoong filed an injunction with the court to block the submission of the extraordinary general meeting agenda to appoint directors by cumulative voting, assuming the introduction of cumulative voting, and the hearing was concluded on the 17th. The court is expected to make a ruling on this case before the extraordinary general meeting on the 23rd.