Lotte chair's son elected to join Japanese Lotte Holdings board

Shin Yoo-yeol [YONHAP]

Shin Yoo-yeol, the only son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, has been elected to join the board of directors at Lotte Holdings in Japan, paving the way for a third-generation succession for Lotte.

The younger Shin, 38, serves as an executive director of the Future Growth Office at Lotte Corporation, the holding firm for Lotte's businesses in Korea. He was elected to the board at Lotte Holdings in Japan at a shareholder meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Lotte chief's eldest son nominated for board of Lotte Holdings Japan

Shareholders of Lotte Holdings elected Yoo-yeol as director as he has a deep understanding of the overall business of Lotte Group and ample experience in finances and business strategies, the group said in a statement.

Yoo-yeol began his career at Lotte Group in 2020 when he took a job at the sales division in Lotte Holdings.

The heir apparent to the retail-to-chemical conglomerate is expected to participate in Lotte Holdings' board meetings over key management decisions.

Early this month, he acquired a 0.01 percent stake in Lotte Holdings to help enhance its corporate value and achieve responsible management, according to Lotte Group.

On top of his positions in the two holding firms, Yoo-yeol serves as chief executive officer of Lotte Strategic Investment and Lotte Financial in Japan, while also being in charge of global business strategy at Lotte Biologics in Korea.

In February, he was elected as executive director of Lotte Biologics.

In a statement released ahead of the shareholder meeting, the chairman's elder brother, Dong-joo, said he will oppose the nomination of Yoo-yeol to the board in Wednesday's vote, citing his unproven management ability.

Dong-joo also demanded shareholders to vote to allow him to return to Lotte Holdings' board as director and oust Dong-bin from the board. This comes as his latest attempt after nine failed attempts for the same purposes between 2016 and 2023.

But his 10th attempt also failed, and Dong-bin maintains his directorship.

Dong-joo is the head of Kojunsha, which owns a 28.1 percent stake in Lotte Holdings. He owns a 1.77 percent stake in the holding company.

The Lotte chairman and his brother were at the center of a high-profile family feud over the succession of Lotte Group until the death of their father and the group's founder, Shin Kyuk-ho, in January 2020. Dong-bin and Dong-joo control the company's operations in Japan and Korea, respectively.

Dong-bin officially became his father's successor to the conglomerate in 2015.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]