'Shin Dong-ju's Counterattack' No Upset... Chairman Shin Dong-bin Reaffirms Korea-Japan 'One-Top System'

Lotte Holdings Japan Annual General Meeting, Shin Dong-ju's Shareholder Proposal Rejected
Chairman Shin Dong-bin Reaffirms Trust in Management Team

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-sun] The 'counterattack' by Shin Dong-joo, chairman of SDJ Corporation (former vice chairman of Japan Lotte Holdings), ended as a mere incident. Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group, solidified his 'top position' by gaining the trust of the Japanese Lotte board members.

According to Lotte Holdings on the 24th, at the regular shareholders' meeting of Japan Lotte Holdings held in Tokyo, Japan, all proposals submitted by Chairman Shin Dong-joo, including the dismissal of Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Japan Lotte Holdings, and amendments to the articles of incorporation, were rejected. Due to Japan's entry restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, both Chairman Shin Dong-bin and Chairman Shin Dong-joo were absent from the meeting. Both are currently staying in Korea.

Earlier in April, Chairman Shin Dong-joo submitted shareholder proposals to Japan Lotte Holdings, including the dismissal of Chairman Shin Dong-bin and amendments to the articles of incorporation to establish disqualification criteria for directors to prevent individuals with criminal convictions from assuming directorships. Shin Dong-joo stated, "As the representative and shareholder of Kwangyoon-sa, the largest shareholder of Lotte Holdings, I submitted the shareholder proposal to fundamentally correct the current situation where Lotte Holdings lacks corporate governance functions."

However, there was no surprise. Japan Lotte Holdings sided with Chairman Shin Dong-bin. Since July 2015, Shin Dong-joo has attempted six times at Japan Lotte Holdings shareholders' meetings to dismiss Shin Dong-bin and regain his own directorship, but all attempts failed.

Japan Lotte Holdings' shares are held by Kwangyoon-sa at 28.1%, the employee stock ownership association at 27.8%, Lotte Strategic Investment (LSI) at 10.7%, affiliates at 6.0%, with Shin Dong-bin holding 4.0% and Shin Dong-joo holding 1.6%.

Shin Dong-bin was appointed chairman of Lotte Holdings at the board meeting in March. This event reaffirmed the trust of the Japanese Lotte management in Chairman Shin Dong-bin.

Meanwhile, Chairman Shin Dong-joo announced that if the dismissal proposal is rejected at this shareholders' meeting, he intends to file a lawsuit demanding the dismissal of Shin Dong-bin as a director under Article 854 of the Japanese Companies Act.

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