This year, too, shareholder meetings of corporations listed on the Korea Exchange are clustering on three specific days, showing that the concentration remains. Experts said dispersion of shareholder meetings is needed to ensure sufficient exercise of voting rights.
According to the Korea Listed Companies Association on the 2nd, as of on the 27th, 436, or 73%, of the 593 listed companies tallied had set their shareholder meetings for the 24th, 26th, and 31st of this month.
The day with the most shareholder meetings is the 26th, when 272 companies will hold meetings. Major corporations holding meetings that day include Hyundai Motor, SK, and Kakao.
Experts have argued that it is necessary to ease the excessive concentration of meeting dates to protect the rights and interests of retail investors. When meetings cluster in a specific period, institutional investors such as the National Pension Service and individual investors lack the physical time to exercise their voting rights fully.
In response, the government is operating various systems to disperse shareholder meetings. Since 2018, the financial authorities have been running a "voluntary compliance program for dispersing shareholder meetings" with the Korea Listed Companies Association and the KOSDAQ Association, and a 2020 amendment to the Commercial Act allowed meetings to be held in April.
Nevertheless, the concentration has not been resolved.
Listed companies, on the other hand, complain that systems to disperse meetings impose burdens on corporations. Considering the schedule for submitting business reports and the consolidation and settlement of account of overseas subsidiaries, holding meetings at the end of March is unavoidable, they said. In addition, because approval for next fiscal year plans and key agenda items must be obtained at the meetings, finalizing management plans within the first quarter is also cited as a practical reason for the scheduling concentration.