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Kim Jun, CEO of SK Innovation, is speaking in his capacity as chairman at the SK Innovation extraordinary general meeting of shareholders held on the 16th at the SK Seorin Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul. On this day, SK Innovation held the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders and resolved the physical division plan for the battery and oil exploration and production (E&P) businesses. Photo by Kim Hyunmin kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] SK Innovation shareholders have approved the spin-off of the battery business division. With the majority of institutional investors, excluding the National Pension Service, supporting the physical spin-off of the battery division, the newly named SK Battery is set to officially launch on the 1st of next month. However, there are currently no plans for an initial public offering (IPO) for the new entity. ▷Related article page 3

On the morning of the 16th, SK Innovation held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders at the SK Seorin Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, to approve the physical spin-off of the battery business division and the oil development business division. 74.57% (62,331,624 shares) of total shares attended the meeting, and among them, 80.2% (49,981,081 shares) voted in favor. Although the second-largest shareholder, the National Pension Service, which holds an 8.05% stake, expressed opposition, the approval easily surpassed the required two-thirds of attending shares and one-third of total shares.

Accordingly, SK Innovation will be divided into the holding company SK Innovation, the newly established SK Battery, and SK E&P (tentative name). SK Battery will be responsible for secondary batteries, E-mobility, and energy storage system (ESS) businesses, while SK E&P will handle businesses related to China, Vietnam, Libya, and liquefied natural gas (LNG, excluding Yemen LNG). Ji Dong-seop, head of SK Innovation’s battery business, is expected to be appointed as the CEO of the new SK Battery entity.

With the approval of this extraordinary general meeting, the core ‘Carbon to Green’ innovation strategy of SK Innovation’s financial story is expected to gain further momentum. In particular, the battery business has already secured a global leading order backlog exceeding 1000 GWh, and it is necessary to rapidly expand the current annual battery production capacity of about 40 GWh to over 200 GWh by 2025. Therefore, this spin-off is anticipated to be a turning point for accelerating global growth and further strengthening competitiveness in the future.

Kim Jun, CEO of SK Innovation, stated, "We will realize shareholder value of SK Innovation through battery ‘safety,’ establishing an organizational culture for the battery business, and timely securing of investment resources."

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