POSCO to Transition to Holding Company System... "Will Secure Future Growth Engines Amid Industrial Transformation" (Update)

POSCO will transition to a holding company structure.

On the morning of the 28th, POSCO held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders at the POSCO Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where it presented a division plan to split POSCO into the holding company 'POSCO Holdings' and the steel business company 'POSCO' through a physical division, which was approved as originally proposed.

As a result, the holding company POSCO Holdings will remain a listed company responsible for discovering new future businesses and managing investments for the group, while the steel company POSCO will be separated as a 100% subsidiary. In order to protect shareholder value, POSCO decided not to list the 'POSCO separated as a steel subsidiary.' Thus, POSCO Holdings will be positioned at the top of the group's governance structure, with other subsidiaries such as POSCO Chemical, POSCO Energy, POSCO International, and POSCO Construction placed below it.

Earlier, the National Pension Service (NPS), the largest shareholder holding 9.74% of POSCO shares (as of the end of September last year), held a meeting of the Stewardship Responsibility Committee and decided to vote in favor of the transition to a holding company. The NPS, which had opposed the physical divisions of LG Chem and SK Innovation, is known to have been influenced by Chairman Choi's strategic move to protect shareholder value. Additionally, major foreign proxy advisory firms such as ISS and Glass Lewis also expressed support, leading foreign shareholders to vote in favor. Although some minority shareholders opposed the plan due to concerns over shareholder value dilution from dual listings, persuasion through shareholder return policies such as treasury stock cancellation and the unlisted status of the steel subsidiary appears to have changed the voting direction of minority shareholders.

POSCO Chairman Choi Jung-woo is giving a greeting at the 'Youth Hope ON Project' meeting held last November at the POSCO Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Chairman Choi said in his opening remarks at the extraordinary general meeting, "The global low-carbon transition is fundamentally shaking the competitiveness of traditional industries including steel," adding, "POSCO, at the center of this change, will be able to increase its corporate value further through the holding company structure."

Regarding the background of the transition to a holding company, POSCO explained that it aims to transform from a steel-centered company into a group encompassing new growth areas such as secondary battery materials and hydrogen. Chairman Choi said on the day, "To develop into a global business leader that creates greater corporate value, innovation in the management system is urgently needed," adding, "We intend to maximize management efficiency through the transition to a holding company structure." Through this structural reorganization, POSCO plans to actively foster new growth sectors alongside its core steel business and increase corporate value to more than three times the current level by 2030.

Meanwhile, on the same day, about 100 people including representatives from the Pohang City Council and the Emergency Countermeasures Committee for Reviving Pohang Local Enterprises held a protest in front of the general meeting venue, raising their voices saying, "POSCO Holdings must be established in Pohang" and "Communicate with the citizens of Pohang." In response to these voices, Chairman Choi explained, "The location of the holding company's address is not an issue, and although some departments will move to Seoul, the Pohang headquarters will not be relocated," adding, "The headquarters will remain in Pohang."

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