Son acquires upper hand in tug-of-war for Dong-a
Yesterday, Kang Moon-seok, president of Sooseok Trading Co. and the second son of Dong-A Group chairman Kang Shin-ho, filed that he had increased his holdings to 14.7 percent. He did so by adding favorable shares, including 2.6 percent held by Dong-A Pharmaceutical’s vice chairman Yu Chung-sik, his father’s former ally. The announcement came after he raised his holdings to 10.9 percent on Jan. 15. Kang Moon-seok was chief executive of Dong-A in 2003, but stepped down in 2004 due to low sales. Since then, he and his father have both been trying to increase their shares.
Now that Mr. Yu has sided with the younger Kang, however, Chairman Kang’s holdings in the drugmaker have dropped from 9.5 percent to 6.9 percent. Mr. Yu, who entered the company in 1961, was referred to as a partner by the senior Kang, but since last year, insiders at the company said he was unsatisfied with the chairman’s management style.
The junior Kang plans to use his holdings to recommend a board member at the shareholder’s meeting in March. “I want to contribute to the development of Dong-A Pharmaceutical,” Mr. Kang said. “I don’t know whether it will be me or another person.”
Meanwhile, share prices of Dong-A continued to drop yesterday for the fourth day, falling to 74,100 won ($79).
By Shim Jae-woo(JoongAng Ilbo) / Wohn Dong-hee(Staff Writer) By Shim Jae-woo(JoongAng Ilbo) / Wohn Dong-hee(Staff Writer) [wohn@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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