Shareholders approve SK’s holding company

SK Corp. shareholders approved plans to split Asia’s No. 4 refiner into holding and operating companies to simplify the group’s structure and enhance corporate governance.
Shareholders representing about 80 percent of outstanding stock all voted in favor of the proposal at a meeting in Seoul yesterday, SK Corp. said in a statement. The reorganized companies will be called SK Holdings Co. and SK Energy Co.
The reorganization is part of efforts by Korea’s jaebeol groups to become more efficient and increase transparency by separating unrelated parts of their businesses. SK, Korea’s third-largest industrial group, will be the second jaebeol to form a holding company after LG in July 2004.
“For shareholders, the issue has always been that if you’re buying into a share of SK Corp., you’re also buying into non-core investment assets such as SK Telecom, SK Networks or SKC,” Cindy Park, a Seoul-based senior analyst at Nomura International Plc, said yesterday. “With this split plan, shareholders now have better clarity in what they are buying into.”
The split takes effect July 1. Holders of SK Corp. stock will get 29 shares of the holding company for each 100 they own in the refiner, and 71 shares in the operating company, SK Corp. said April 11.
SK Holdings and SK Energy will be listed separately on the Korea Exchange on July 25, SK Corp. said. SK Energy will focus on energy and chemicals, while SK Holdings will concentrate on business investments.
SK Holdings will own 17 percent of SK Energy, 22 percent of SK Telecom Co., 41 percent of SK Networks Co. and stakes in affiliates SK E&S, SKC Co., SK Shipping Co. and K-Power Co., SK Corp. said.