Hyosung initiates holding company for transparency

Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon speaks at a meeting with the boards of directors of the group's holding company and four affiliates at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, Friday. / Courtesy of Hyosung Group

By Park Jae-hyuk

Hyosung Group said Sunday it has officially established a holding company, Hyosung Corp., and spun off the group into the holding firm with four affiliates ― Hyosung TNC, Hyosung Advanced Materials, Hyosung Heavy Industries and Hyosung Chemical.

Serving as a control tower of the group under the holding company structure, Hyosung Corp. is expected to focus on fostering high-profit business portfolios and enhance brand value, the conglomerate said.

According to Hyosung, the holding firm will also advance corporate governance and achieve transparent management, by managing the performance of the affiliates and having their operations focused on their respective boards and professional executives.

“Hyosung will leverage the expertise possessed by the holding company, Hyosung Corp., and the four new operating affiliates to maintain and advance transparent management and raise our competitiveness to become a perennial global leader, thus enhancing our corporate and customer value,” Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon said.

Since his appointment last year, the chairman has stressed the importance of transparent management.

In July last year, he formed the transparent management committee under the company's board of directors.

He also resigned as the chairman of Hyosung's board of directors last February to break from the company's tradition of having the representative director lead the board.

Hyosung said it will reinforce the global competitiveness of the four affiliates by making them independent entities under the supervision of professional executives.

The conglomerate appointed 11 internal directors and 20 nonexecutive directors, during a meeting among the boards of directors of the five companies, Friday.

The newly appointed external directors include many former judges and prosecutors, such as former Prosecutor General Chung Sang-myoung, former Seoul High Court Chief Justice Kim Dong-gun and former Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Chang-jae.

Hyosung Group has faced a series of prosecutions over the past few years, so the appointment of legal experts has been regarded as the conglomerate's effort to protect the group and the chairman.