Seo Jung-jin's Return and Longest-Serving CEO... Eyes on Pharma and Bio Shareholders' Meetings

Starting from mid-month, simultaneous commencement of general shareholders' meetings schedule

From mid-this month, listed pharmaceutical and bio companies will simultaneously begin their shareholder meeting schedules. While many companies have put the agenda of reappointing the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) up for shareholder approval, some companies are expected to see the return of owners to management. In some cases, new executives are being brought in to strengthen business competitiveness.

According to the pharmaceutical and bio industry on the 10th, Samsung Biologics will hold its shareholder meeting on the 17th at its Songdo headquarters. Boryung and Chong Kun Dang have announced shareholder meetings on the 21st and 22nd respectively, while Ildong Pharmaceutical, Dongkook Pharmaceutical, Daewon Pharmaceutical, and Jeil Pharmaceutical have scheduled theirs for the 24th. Three listed companies affiliated with the Celltrion Group are all set to hold their shareholder meetings on the same day, the 28th.

From mid-month, pharmaceutical and bio listed companies will simultaneously begin their shareholder meeting schedules. From the top left clockwise: Seo Jung-jin, Honorary Chairman of Celltrion Group; John Rim, CEO of Samsung Biologics; Cha Seok-yong, former Vice Chairman of LG Household & Health Care (candidate for non-executive director at Hugel); Seong Seok-je, CEO of Jeil Pharmaceutical.
[Photo by each company]

The most attention-grabbing company this shareholder meeting season is undoubtedly the Celltrion Group. This is because the group’s founder, Honorary Chairman Seo Jung-jin, has announced his return to management. The listed companies affiliated with the Celltrion Group?Celltrion, Celltrion Pharm, and Celltrion Healthcare?have all included the agenda of appointing Honorary Chairman Seo as an inside director in their respective shareholder meeting agendas. Earlier, each company held a board meeting on the 3rd and passed a resolution recommending Honorary Chairman Seo as a candidate for inside director and co-chairman of the board for a two-year term. Seo resigned from his position as inside director of Celltrion Group affiliates in March 2021 and opened the door to second-generation management by appointing his eldest and second sons to executive positions within the affiliates. Celltrion will also hold a vote on the reappointment of CEO Ki Woo-sung, and Celltrion Healthcare will ask shareholders to approve the two-year term reappointment of Seo Jun-seok, the second son of Honorary Chairman Seo and chairman of the board.

Some companies have put the reappointment of their existing CEOs on the agenda. Despite the downturn in the bio industry last year, these companies seem to have decided on reappointment due to strong performance. Samsung Biologics confirmed the reappointment of CEO John Rim early in December last year and has put his reappointment on the agenda for this shareholder meeting. John Rim’s current term expires on the 20th of this month. Samsung Biologics achieved a record performance last year, becoming the first in the industry to surpass 3 trillion won in sales. Since his appointment in 2021, CEO John Rim has nearly tripled sales in just two years. Samsung Biologics’ annual sales, which were 1.1648 trillion won in 2020, jumped to 3.0013 trillion won last year.

Jeil Pharmaceutical is about to produce the ‘longest-serving CEO.’ The reappointment of current CEO Sung Seok-je is on the shareholder meeting agenda. CEO Sung has served as Jeil Pharmaceutical’s CEO for 18 years since 2005. Considering that the reappointment term proposed this time is three years, if the agenda passes, he is expected to become the longest-serving CEO in the industry with over 20 years in office. Daewon Pharmaceutical will also put the reappointment of Chairman Baek Seung-ho and Vice Chairman Baek Seung-yeol to a vote. They are the eldest and second sons of Daewon Pharmaceutical’s founder, continuing second-generation management. After an organizational restructuring at the end of last year, Daewon Pharmaceutical promoted Baek In-hwan, the eldest son of Chairman Baek, to president. Baek In-young, the eldest son of Vice Chairman Baek, leads the over-the-counter drug division. Additionally, JW Pharmaceutical has put the three-year term reappointment of CEO Shin Young-seop on the agenda, and Ildong Pharmaceutical has included the reappointment of President Seo Jin-seok and Executive Director Kang Kyu-sung of Ildong Holdings as inside directors on their shareholder meeting agendas.

There are also cases of newly recruiting executive-level management to strengthen business operations. Hugel announced that it will hold a shareholder meeting on the 30th and has proposed the appointment of Cha Seok-yong, former Vice Chairman of LG Household & Health Care, as a non-executive director. Cha served as CEO of LG Household & Health Care from 2005 until last year, achieving 17 consecutive years of growth and earning recognition for his management capabilities. Hugel stated, "Since candidate Cha, as a non-executive director, has been recognized for his outstanding business capabilities by successfully completing various business ventures, we expect him to lead global growth together with the existing board. We will do our utmost to enhance shareholder value through multifaceted efforts to expand Hugel’s scale and strengthen its fundamentals."

Prior to this, GC Cell (J-C Cell) also appointed James Park, a former vice president from Samsung Biologics, as CEO last month. The new CEO Park served as Vice President of the Global Sales Center (CBO) at Samsung Biologics from 2015 until recently. He is regarded as an expert in the pharmaceutical and bio industry, having closed deals worth approximately 5.5 billion dollars (about 7 trillion won) over seven years. He is scheduled to be appointed as an inside director through GC Cell’s shareholder meeting on the 28th.

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