By Kwon Mee-yoo
Nam Sang-tae, 63, president and CEO of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, may not serve a third term as major stakeholder the Korea Development Bank (KDB) is attempting to block his bid.
According to a finance industry source Sunday, KDB senior officials met Nam and asked him to give up on a third term, which would start in March.
Taking office in 2006, he was reappointed in 2009.
He is known to have successfully expanded the company’s business portfolio from shipbuilding to offshore wind power plants.
The sales of the shipbuilder nearly tripled to 12 trillion won last year, up from 4 trillion won after Nam's inauguration in 2006.
Due to his achievements and successful career, many expected him to serve again, but KDB is putting the brakes on this.
According to KDB officials, Nam’s long reign and the relatively low stock price of the shipbuilding company are the main reasons to block him from serving another term.
Despite profits of over 1 trillion won, the shares of Daewoo Shipbuilding only went up by 28 percent from 25,500 won on Feb. 13, 2009 to 32,800 won Friday. During the same period, the stock price of Samsung Heavy Industries gained 36 percent and Hyundai Heavy Industries soared 45 percent.
The state-run bank is now seeking a successor to Nam and plans to draw up a shortlist for the general stockholders' meeting in March.