Heavy Chemical Industry General Meeting Keywords: "Control Tower and Strengthened Restructuring"

LG Chem's Strong Control Tower... Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo Takes the Lead

Hyosung's Cho Hyun-joon and Dongkuk Steel's Jang Se-wook Reappointed as Inside Directors at General Meetings

Restructuring Non-Core Businesses and Fostering New Growth Engines; Adjustments in Each Business Division

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] On the 20th, LG Chem's 19th regular general shareholders' meeting was held at the LG Twin Towers auditorium in Yeouido, Seoul. Shin Hak-cheol, LG Chem's Vice Chairman and chairman of the shareholders' meeting, took the stage and removed his mask. After completing a temperature check and greeting the shareholders seated with social distancing, Vice Chairman Shin said, "This year's business environment will be more challenging than any other year," adding, "The global economic downturn is prolonging, and uncertainties in the business environment, such as the spread of COVID-19, will intensify."

At the meeting, LG Chem established a strong control tower to lead decision-making under an emergency management system. The control tower's leadership will be taken by Kwon Young-soo, Vice Chairman of LG Corp., who was appointed as a non-executive director and chairman of the board of directors at LG Chem. LG Group plans to have Vice Chairman Kwon, who initially built the battery business, lead the group's emergency management system by appointing him as a non-executive director with the same legal rights and duties as an inside director and assigning him as the board chairman.

As concerns over a global economic crisis deepen due to the spread of COVID-19, heavy chemical companies that have established strong ownership structures also stand out. At Hyosung's general meeting held at its headquarters in Mapo-gu, Seoul, Chairman Cho Hyun-joon and Chief Executive Officer Cho Hyun-sang were reappointed as inside directors. Despite the National Pension Service's opposition to their reappointments announced the previous day, there were no surprises.

Hyosung shareholders expressed confidence that "Chairman Cho and CEO Cho will lead the company better," with over 70% voting in favor of their reappointments. In his remarks, Chairman Cho outlined this year's management strategies as ▲differentiating customer value ▲business innovation ▲practicing responsible management ▲applying advanced IT across all operations ▲strengthening sustainable management systems, emphasizing, "Despite external uncertainties, we will enhance market position and brand value to increase shareholder value."

Dongkuk Steel also held its general meeting on the same day, reappointing Vice Chairman Jang Se-wook as an inside director and newly appointing Strategy Office Head Kwak Jin-soo as an inside director. Dongkuk Steel plans to respond swiftly to rapid changes in the steel industry paradigm caused by the spread of COVID-19, centered on Vice Chairman Jang.

Adjustments in business divisions are also a key point to watch in these heavy chemical companies' general meetings. Companies such as Hanwha Solutions (March 24), SK, Hanwha, Hyundai Steel, Lotte Chemical, Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, and S-Oil (March 25), SK Innovation (March 26), GS, and POSCO (March 27) plan to carry out business restructuring through these general meetings by streamlining non-core business areas and providing momentum to future growth industries. Hyundai Steel will establish a subsidiary dedicated to the forging business (shaping metals into specific forms). Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings will actively strengthen its robotics business division, identified as a new growth engine.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.