Namyang Dairy Products Appoints Kim Seung-eon as Managing Director... Chairman Hong Won-sik Retains Inside Director Position

Chairman Hong Won-sik's Mother and Eldest Son to Resign as Inside Directors
"Doing Our Best to Find New Buyer and Complete Sale"

Seung-eon Kim, Managing Director

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-sun] Namyang Dairy Products announced on the 29th that it held a board meeting and appointed Kim Seung-eon, Chairman of the Management Innovation Committee, as the managing director to take charge of management.

Namyang Dairy Products stated, "In place of CEO Lee Kwang-beom, who wishes to resign for personal reasons, company management will be carried out by Kim Seung-eon, Chairman of the Management Innovation Committee, as the managing director." Ji Jong-suk, director and mother of Namyang Dairy Products Chairman Hong Won-sik, Hong Jin-seok, executive director and eldest son of Chairman Hong, and one outside director are also expected to resign additionally.

Currently, Namyang Dairy Products' inside directors consist of four members: Chairman Hong, Director Ji, Executive Director Hong Jin-seok, and CEO Lee Kwang-beom. Among them, only Chairman Hong will remain, and the other three will step down.

Kim Seung-eon, Chairman of the Management Innovation Committee, was recognized for his work experience and know-how and was elected as 'Chairman of the Management Innovation Committee' through a board meeting on the 27th of last month to promote company-wide management innovation activities. At this board meeting, he was appointed as Namyang Dairy Products' 'managing director (Article 11 of the Commercial Act).'

Private equity firm Hahn & Company filed an injunction to prohibit Chairman Hong's family from exercising voting rights at the shareholders' meeting, and the court accepted it. Accordingly, at the extraordinary shareholders' meeting held that day, the agenda to appoint inside directors was rejected due to a lack of quorum.

The major shareholder side of Namyang Dairy Products said, "In the absence of a CEO, the company tried to establish a minimum management system by appointing new directors, but Hahn & Company's actions have caused setbacks in normalizing Namyang Dairy Products." They added, "Since there is no director to be elected as CEO, we have no choice but to proceed with company management under the managing director system led by Kim Seung-eon, while also doing our best to find a new buyer who will further develop Namyang Dairy Products as major shareholders and proceed with the sale process."

Moon Eun-tae, chairman of the Namyang Dairy Products labor union, said, "We will fully support efforts to stabilize company management centered on Chairman Kim Seung-eon of the Management Innovation Committee," and added, "We hope that disputes between parties involved in the sale, such as the injunction on voting rights, will not cause harm to employees."

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