Shareholders Gather At Big Corporations

High-profile companies stood out in the crowd of Korean firms holding annual meetings Friday.

At Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a group of minority shareholder activists blasted the company's top managers for supporting ailing affiliates Hyundai-Ulsan Merchant Bank and Hyundai Asan Corp. at the expense of shareholders' interests.

"There will be no more financial aid for Hyundai Asan," said Park Byung-ki, vice president of the firm.

At Hyundai Motor Company's meeting, the firm told shareholders that holdings in the company owned by management officials and affiliates jumped to 24.88 percent as of Thursday from 18.56 percent at the end of last year. DaimlerChrysler increased its holdings in the automaker from 9 to 9.41 percent.

"The chairman's control over Hyundai Motor has been consolidated by the hike in 'friendly' stakes and by DaimlerChrysler's agreement last June to support his leadership for the next ten years," President Lee Kye-ahn said.

At Pohang Iron & Steel Company's first shareholders' meeting since its privatization, the company announced a 50-percent cash dividend, the biggest ever.

Investors representing 67 percent of voting shares were present, including seven foreign shareholders representing investors who have a 56-percent stake in the firm. Shareholders approved the firm's plan to retire 3 percent of the company's shares repurchased in the market last June.

Hyundai Hysco and SK Global Corp. added new clauses to their articles of incorporation, allowing them to cancel treasury stocks to boost their share prices.

by Kim Hyun-chul