Dong Geol San-eun Chairman "National Pension Service's Opposition to Asiana Merger Undermines Shareholder Rights Justification"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] Lee Dong-geol, Chairman of the Korea Development Bank, stated on the 12th that "the National Pension Service's justification for exercising shareholder rights has faded" in response to the National Pension Service expressing opposition to the integration of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.

At a New Year's press conference held online that day, Chairman Lee said, "There is no choice but to be skeptical about the fact that they expressed opposition despite the possibility of an increase in share value through the integration."

He explained that since the integration would greatly help enhance shareholder value, it was natural to judge it positively.

Earlier, the National Pension Service (holding 8.11% stake) opposed the partial amendment to the articles of incorporation to increase the total number of issued shares from the existing 250 million to 700 million at the Korean Air extraordinary general meeting on the 6th. However, the partial amendment to the articles of incorporation was approved with more than one-third of the votes in favor.

Chairman Lee explained, "The National Pension Service pointed out that the contract proceeded without due diligence on Asiana Airlines, but Korean Air operates in the same industry and we judged that it had sufficiently understood Asiana Airlines' situation through disclosures and other means."

He added, "Due to the COVID-19 situation, it was important not to miss the timing, and I believe Korean Air's perspective was not wrong," and criticized, "I think the National Pension Service's claim that it could be disadvantageous to Korean Air lacks grounds."

He continued, "There was actual criticism about whether the National Pension Service's decision to exercise shareholder rights was made rationally," and added, "I do not believe that Korea Development Bank's justification has faded or that the importance of the matter has diminished."

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