SK Group to spread out shareholder meetings

SK Holdings, the holding company for SK Group, announced Thursday a plan to hold shareholder meetings for major affiliates such as SK Innovation, SK Telecom and SK Hynix on separate days.

It is the first time a local conglomerate has decided to separate shareholder meetings, according to SK.

It is a move to break away from conventional business practice in Korea, where multiple companies held shareholder meetings on one day. According to data from the Financial Services Commission, 924 companies, roughly 45 percent of the listed companies in Korea held shareholder meetings on March 24 last year.

If meetings are held on the same day, shareholders holding shares for 10 companies, for instance, can only participate in some meetings, depending on what time the meetings are held.

This practice naturally reduces how much influence shareholders can have over companies.

For these reasons, Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku had said last month that the practice of holding shareholder meetings on the same day should be rectified as soon as possible. Compared to the United Kingdom, United States and Japan, Korea holds far more simultaneous shareholder meetings, according to Choi.

“We aim to minimize the side effects of a so-called super shareholders’ meeting day where multiple companies hold shareholder meeting on the same day,” a spokesperson from SK Holdings said. “It is a pre-emptive measure to increase shareholders’ participation in meetings.”

SK also announced it will implement an electronic voting system at the upcoming shareholders’ meeting in March.

The system enables shareholders that cannot make it to the meetings, either due to distance or time, to exercise their voting rights.

The group has a shareholder meeting coming up in March - the exact date and time for each affiliated company will be announced later.

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]