T-Plex appoints 'Gu Hee-chan as auditor' by shareholder proposal... "We will monitor family management"

At the regular shareholders' meeting of T-Plex, a domestic stainless steel material processing company, the appointment of an auditor proposed by the minority shareholder coalition was approved.

Through this, it is expected that the board, which had become a rubber stamp for the owner family, will be monitored for transparent management and will work to enhance shareholder value.

At the regular shareholders' meeting held on the 31st in the conference room of T-Plex headquarters in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, a vote was held on the appointment of an auditor. The auditor appointment proposal of Koo Hee-chan, proposed by the law firm Weon, was finally approved, while the reappointment proposal of auditor Lee Kyu-ho submitted by T-Plex was rejected.

Earlier, attorney Lee Kyu-sung of law firm Weon sent a shareholder letter in February containing a plan for corporate normalization. Law firm Weon is the legal representative of the minority shareholder coalition holding more than 1% of the total issued shares of T-Plex for over six months.

In the shareholder letter, attorney Lee Kyu-sung pointed out the excessive family management of T-Plex and the undervalued corporate value as problems.

Currently, T-Plex's price-to-book ratio (PBR) is below 0.5 times, indicating a significant undervaluation compared to the company's intrinsic value.

Moreover, among the seven executives of T-Plex, four are relatives of the CEO, and among the four board members, three except one outside director are relatives of the CEO, making normal checks and monitoring within the company impossible.

Shareholder returns were also passive. Over the past three years, the salaries of directors composed of relatives totaled 7.8 billion KRW, including 5 billion KRW paid to the CEO, while the cash dividend yield averaged around 0.7%, with dividend payments amounting to about 1.8 billion KRW.

In particular, despite recording a loss of 2.2 billion KRW in 2023, the CEO received 2.3 billion KRW, and the directors received the full salary limit of 3 billion KRW.

Accordingly, attorney Lee proposed the appointment of auditor Koo Hee-chan along with shareholder proposals for a cash dividend of 100 KRW per share and the establishment of executive compensation regulations, achieving the passage of the auditor appointment proposal.

According to attorney Lee Kyu-sung, minority shareholders sent proxy votes for 5,101,947 shares, accounting for 56.11% of the total shares, surpassing the company's 3,958,953 shares by 1,142,994 shares, resulting in the approval of the auditor appointment proposal.

With the approval of this shareholder proposal for auditor appointment, T-Plex will be subject to checks on family management led by CEO Kim Young-guk.

Newly appointed auditor Koo Hee-chan is a former CFO of T-Plex who resigned after opposing the management's abuses. Auditor Koo is expected to maximize shareholder value through shareholder-friendly communication and shareholder returns.

Auditor Koo emphasized, "I will monitor the board, which has been favoring the interests of major shareholders, and lead transparent management. Through active IR activities, I will communicate with shareholders and strive to normalize the undervalued corporate value, which is below book value, and return value to shareholders through active promotion."

Meanwhile, T-Plex is a company specializing in stainless steel material processing and manufacturing, listed on the KOSDAQ market since 2009. It holds the number one market share in the domestic stainless steel bar (round bar) sector. T-Plex recorded consolidated sales of 207.5 billion KRW, operating profit of 4.8 billion KRW, and net profit of 1.4 billion KRW last year.

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