'Son's Rebellion'... Hanmi Pharm Second Son Who Dismissed Chairman Song Young-sook "Will Accelerate Company Development"

The management dispute within Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group has resumed.

Lim Jong-hoon, CEO of Hanmi Science, is answering reporters' questions after an extraordinary board meeting held on the 14th at the Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to industry sources on the 14th, Hanmi Science, the holding company of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group, held an extraordinary board meeting that morning and passed a resolution to dismiss Song Young-sook, co-CEO of Hanmi Science (Chairman of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group). This marks the beginning of a new crisis just over a month after the announcement of a plan for the younger brother, Lim Jong-hoon, to jointly operate the company as co-CEO alongside Chairman Song, despite the Lim brothers, Jong-yoon and Jong-hoon, having taken control of the Hanmi Science board following their victory at the regular shareholders' meeting in March.

Under the co-CEO system, both sides reportedly experienced significant conflicts over executive appointments and investment attraction. There was even a farcical incident where a previously announced personnel order was withdrawn within about ten days because one of the two co-CEOs did not approve it. Given the nature of the co-CEO system, where company decisions cannot be made if either representative opposes, this was a predictable outcome. It is also rumored that disagreements continued over raising funds to pay the inheritance tax imposed on the owner family. The brothers’ approach of raising funds through private equity funds reportedly did not align easily with the views of Song Young-sook and her daughter Lim Joo-hyun. While the conflict seemed to be superficially resolved, it was actually festering internally.

Ultimately, although the brothers had taken control of the group’s management rights, they were unable to exercise actual control, leading to the exclusion of Chairman Song. During this process, Lim Jong-yoon, a director of Hanmi Science, reportedly expressed opposition to the extreme step of dismissing Chairman Song, citing concerns about potential negative impacts on future investment attraction. However, it is understood that Lim Jong-yoon voted in favor of the dismissal resolution at the board meeting held via video conference that day.

After becoming the sole CEO, Lim Jong-hoon told reporters following the board meeting, "We need to accelerate various aspects of the company’s development," expressing his intention to operate the company with greater speed through faster decision-making. Starting with the personnel reshuffle he originally desired, business initiatives such as investment attraction are expected to proceed more smoothly.

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