Yeongpung "Have Jang and Yeongpung ever managed Korea Zinc? ... This Denies 70 Years of History"

"Jang's Claim of Never Managing Korea Zinc" Criticized as "Korea Zinc Denying Its Own Identity"

Yeongpung stated on the 22nd, "The claim by Korea Zinc that MBK, Yeongpung, and Advisor Jang Hyung-jin's side have never managed Korea Zinc is completely untrue," adding, "This is Korea Zinc itself denying the company's history and identity."

Earlier that morning, Park Ki-duk, CEO of Korea Zinc, said at a press conference, "Although Advisor Jang is a member of the company's board, he has never understood the company's specific business details nor conducted management activities based on that understanding."

Yeongpung explained, "Yeongpung was established as a joint venture between the Jang and Choi families, and Korea Zinc is an affiliate company belonging to the Yeongpung corporate group. This fact is also clearly stated in Korea Zinc's business report."

Jang Hyeong-jin, Advisor at Yeongpung.
Photo by Yonhap News

The history of the two companies dates back to 1949 when the late founders Jang Byung-hee and Choi Ki-ho jointly established 'Yeongpung Enterprises.' Yeongpung founded Korea Zinc to expand its zinc smelting business, and the two families jointly managed both companies. Over time, as the two companies grew significantly, for management efficiency, the Jang family took charge of Yeongpung and its electronics affiliates, while the Choi family took charge of Korea Zinc, continuing autonomous management.

Yeongpung claimed, "It is Chairman Choi Yoon-beom, the third generation of founder Choi Ki-ho, who has shattered the spirit of partnership that the two families and companies have maintained for over 70 years in an instant and is ruining a sound company."

Since Chairman Choi took office as CEO in 2022, over two years, he diluted 16% of the equity value through third-party allotment capital increases or treasury stock swaps with domestic and international companies such as Hanwha, seriously infringing on the proportional interests of existing shareholders.

Furthermore, when Yeongpung opposed the amendment to the articles of incorporation at this year's Korea Zinc shareholders' meeting, which would effectively allow unrestricted third-party allotment capital increases, Chairman Choi reportedly severed the joint business activities, such as joint sales and raw material procurement, that the two companies had maintained for decades as if cutting with a knife.

Yeongpung emphasized, "As the largest shareholder of Korea Zinc, we can no longer tolerate the current management's behavior of recklessly spending trillions of won of company funds as if they were petty cash," and clarified, "This is not a so-called 'hostile merger and acquisition (M&A),' but a management normalization aimed at strengthening the controlling rights of the largest shareholder."

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