Kumho Petrochemical's Park Chan-gu Wins by a Landslide... All Company Proposals Passed at the General Meeting

Passed with an overwhelming margin of up to 7 million votes
Major investors: "Better aligned with enhancing shareholder value... Support"
National Pension Service unanimously supports all management proposals

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] In the second round of Kumho Petrochemical's 'Nephew Rebellion,' Chairman Park Chan-gu's side won a landslide victory over former Executive Director Park Cheol-wan's side again this year, following last year.

At Kumho Petrochemical's regular shareholders' meeting on the 25th, all company-proposed agenda items were passed by an overwhelming margin. Dividends were approved at 10,000 KRW per common share and 10,050 KRW per preferred share as proposed by the company, and the candidates Park Sang-soo and Park Young-woo were appointed as outside directors. The company's proposal to appoint Park Sang-soo as a member of the audit committee was also approved.

The meeting was delayed by about 1 hour and 30 minutes due to a prolonged vote counting process, starting around 10:30 a.m., instead of the scheduled 9 a.m. Although the start was delayed compared to the schedule, it was earlier than last year's meeting, which began nearly 3 hours late amid a management dispute.

The agenda items presented included ▲approval of the 45th fiscal year financial statements ▲dividends of 10,000 KRW per common share and 10,050 KRW per preferred share (company proposal) vs. dividends of 14,900 KRW per common share and 14,950 KRW per preferred share (shareholder proposal) ▲appointment of outside directors Park Sang-soo and Park Young-woo (company proposal) vs. appointment of Lee Sung-yong and Ham Sang-moon (shareholder proposal) ▲appointment of audit committee member Park Sang-soo (company proposal) vs. appointment of Lee Sung-yong (shareholder proposal) ▲approval of director remuneration limits, among others.

The key issues were the director appointments and dividend proposals, as there were significant differences between Chairman Park's side and former Executive Director Park's side. In particular, the board can only have up to 10 directors according to Kumho Petrochemical's articles of association, leading to intense voting competition. Currently, the board consists of 3 inside directors and 7 outside directors.

Since the terms of two outside directors were expiring, Chairman Park and former Executive Director Park each nominated different candidates to compete. Only 2 out of 4 outside director candidates and 1 out of 2 audit committee member candidates can be selected. Since the dividend and director appointment proposals are ordinary resolutions, the proposals receiving more votes are approved.

According to the meeting results, out of approximately 25,047,000 voting shares, about 17,057,000 shares were present, representing about 68.1%. In all agenda items, the company’s proposals received overwhelming support from shareholders, exceeding expectations by a margin ranging from about twice to three times that of shareholder Park Cheol-wan’s proposals.

It is evaluated that the National Pension Service, the second-largest shareholder holding the 'casting vote,' siding with Chairman Park had a significant impact. Managing over 800 trillion KRW and known as the largest player in the domestic capital market, the National Pension Service judged that the company’s dividend proposal was more appropriate considering Kumho Petrochemical’s mid- to long-term investment plans. The outside director and audit committee member candidates proposed by the company were also supported.

A Kumho Petrochemical official stated, "Above all, we thank the shareholders for their support. Going forward, I and our employees will listen humbly to the voices of shareholders and devote ourselves to enhancing corporate value and shareholder value through strengthening ESG (environment, social, and governance)."

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