Align Partners Asset Management said on the 11th it sent a public shareholder letter to A+ Asset Advisor that lays out eight key tasks to boost shareholder value.
Align Partners made a shareholder proposal to elect two outside directors separately to serve as audit committee members. The proposed candidates are Heo Geum-joo, who held major executive posts at Kyobo Life Insurance for about 35 years, and Paeng Yong-un, who served in key roles including head of the corporate insurance agency (GA) division at Shinhan Life Insurance for about 27 years. Align Partners said both candidates are independent and qualified figures with no conflicts of interest with A+ Asset or the controlling shareholder and can provide effective oversight and checks on the controlling shareholder and management.
Align Partners also proposed an agenda item to amend the articles of incorporation to establish a compensation committee and to separately set Director Kwak Geun-ho's pay cap from the rest of the board, seeking individual approval for a total pay cap of 1.2 billion won and a base salary cap of 300 million won. Align Partners judged that a substantial portion of the total compensation paid to all directors and auditors at A+ Asset was paid to Director Kwak alone. The compensation for Director Kwak is more than about eight times the average compensation per registered director (excluding outside directors and audit committee members) other than Kwak. Director Kwak's 2024 compensation is about 985 million won, of which approximately 900 million won is fixed pay, meaning most of the total pay was fixed salary not linked to performance.
By contrast, the annual compensation per audit committee Commissioner (outside director), who should oversee management, is only about 18 million won, making it difficult for audit committee members to be guaranteed independent performance of their duties through appropriate compensation, Align Partners argued.
Align Partners also submitted an agenda item recommending that the board disclose, once a year on a regular basis, matters related to the overall compensation system for directors and key executives in the corporate governance report.
On the 6th, Align Partners said it had previously proposed specific measures to enhance shareholder value and improve corporate governance to A+ Asset's board and management in the prior month. However, the written reply A+ Asset sent on the 6th this month lacked concrete execution plans, so Align Partners said it is shifting to a public campaign and will make shareholder proposals at the regular general meeting.