The Largest US Pension Fund Opposes the Introduction of 'Cumulative Voting System' at Korea Zinc

MBK Partners announced on the 16th that major overseas institutional investors, including the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS·CalPERS) and the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS·CalSTRS), voted against the introduction of the cumulative voting system at Korea Zinc.

According to MBK, CalPERS, the largest public pension fund in the United States, and CalSTRS, one of the leading pension funds in North America, each disclosed the voting results on the agenda of Korea Zinc's extraordinary general meeting on their respective websites on the same day.

They opposed all seven outside director candidates recommended by Korea Zinc's board of directors and only supported the four director candidates from MBK and Youngpoong. This followed the recommendation of the global proxy advisory firm ISS.

Earlier, ISS, in a report analyzing the agenda for Korea Zinc's extraordinary general meeting scheduled for the 23rd, stated, "Although cumulative voting is generally considered beneficial to minority shareholders, in this case, it may produce unintended consequences that dilute the reforms sought by MBK and Youngpoong," opposing the introduction of the cumulative voting system and emphasizing the need for board restructuring.

An MBK official said, "Since this decision comes from prominent North American pension funds that are highly sensitive to corporate governance and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) issues, their opposition to the introduction of the cumulative voting system is likely to have a significant impact on the voting intentions of other pension funds and institutional investors."

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