National Pension Service Backs KT CEO Park Yoonyoung and LG Chem Inside Director Kim Dongchun

The National Pension Service has announced that it will vote in favor of the appointment of Park Yoon-young, the next CEO candidate for KT, and Kim Dong-chun, CEO of LG Chem, as inside directors.

On March 26, the Trustee Responsibility Expert Committee of the National Pension Fund held its 6th meeting and deliberated on the direction for exercising the National Pension Service's voting rights regarding the agendas of the regular shareholders' meetings of KT, LG Chem, and Hyundai Rotem.

National Pension Service. Yonhap News Agency.

First, regarding the KT shareholders' meeting scheduled for March 31, the committee decided to support the appointment of Park Yoon-young as CEO, Park Hyun-jin as inside director, and Yoon Jong-su as outside director.

In contrast, the committee decided to oppose the agenda item regarding the approval of KT's treasury stock holding and disposal plan, stating that "this is inconsistent with the stated purpose of enhancing shareholder value when the treasury shares were initially acquired."

Among the LG Chem shareholders' meeting agendas, the committee supported the appointment of CEO Kim as an inside director but decided to oppose the shareholder proposal made by the UK-based hedge fund Palliser Capital.

Regarding the agenda item on amending the Articles of Incorporation to introduce advisory shareholder proposals, the committee determined that allowing shareholder meetings to propose changes related to the company's governance structure, capital allocation policy, and executive compensation policy could restrict the authority of the board of directors, and therefore opposed the amendment.

Furthermore, with regard to the amendment for appointing a lead independent director, the committee explained its opposition by noting that, since the current chair of the board is an outside director and is separate from the CEO, there is little need to appoint a separate lead independent director.

Palliser Capital recently submitted a shareholder proposal demanding the introduction of advisory shareholder proposals, the appointment of a lead independent director, and the repurchase and cancellation of treasury shares. Palliser Capital holds a 0.67% stake in LG Chem.

The committee also opposed the compensation committee review agenda to introduce stock-linked compensation into the existing management compensation plan and to add the NAV (Net Asset Value) discount rate and return on equity (ROE) as additional key performance indicators (KPIs) in the corporate value enhancement plan, in accordance with the condition that the introduction of advisory shareholder proposals would be automatically discarded if not approved.

The committee stated, "The company has already disclosed its plan to liquidate its stake in LG Energy Solution, and if the stake is liquidated in accordance with the shareholder proposal, there is concern that this could negatively impact shareholder value."

Regarding the Hyundai Rotem shareholders' meeting agendas, the committee decided to support all items, including the appointment of President Lee Yong-bae as inside director; the appointments of Cho Hyung-joon and Jeong Jae-ho as inside directors; and the appointment of outside director Kwak Se-bung as a member of the audit committee.

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