LG Chem to Spin Off World's No. 1 Battery Business (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporters So-yeon Park and Yoon-joo Hwang] LG Chem is spinning off its world No. 1 battery business. Despite opposition from minority shareholders and the second-largest shareholder, the National Pension Service, foreign investors and institutions supported LG Chem's spin-off plan, leading to the approval of the physical division of the battery business division at the shareholders' meeting. LG Chem's battery business division will launch as a new company called 'LG Energy Solution (tentative name)' in December.

On the morning of the 30th, LG Chem held a shareholders' meeting at the LG Twin Towers East Building basement 1st floor auditorium in Yeouido, Seoul, and announced that the plan to split the battery business division was approved. The attendance rate at the meeting was 77.5%, with a 82.3% approval rate based on shares present. The approval rate based on total shares issued was 63.7%. Physical division requires a special resolution, meaning at least two-thirds of voting rights of attending shareholders and at least one-third of total issued shares must approve.

With the approval of the spin-off plan, LG Energy Solution, a new company dedicated to the battery business, is scheduled to officially launch on December 1. This spin-off is a physical division in which LG Chem will own 100% of the shares of the unlisted new company created by the spin-off. LG Chem plans to proceed with an initial public offering after about one year of preparation. The expected share offering ratio is approximately 20-30%.

Shin Hak-cheol, Vice Chairman of LG Chem, stated, "In the rapidly changing market environment, we decided to spin off to establish a management system optimized for the characteristics of the battery business and to firmly secure a super-gap position in the market," adding, "We will leap forward as a 'Global Top 5 Chemical Company' with a balanced business portfolio." LG Chem plans for the new company to achieve sales of over 30 trillion won in 2024 and to develop it into the world's leading energy solutions company centered on batteries. The new company's expected sales for this year are approximately 13 trillion won.

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