The third generation of management at Hansol Group has officially begun.
Jo Sung-min (36), the first son of Jo Dong-gil (69), chairman of Hansol Group, is in charge of group strategy, while Jo's eldest son-in-law, Han Kyung-rok (45), is managing Hansol Paper, the group's core subsidiary.
Hansol Group, which separated from the Samsung Group in 1993, has recently established a management system under Chairman Jo Dong-gil involving his son and son-in-law over the past two years. This marks about 22 years since Chairman Jo has led Hansol Group.
Chairman Jo is the third son of the late Lee Byung-chul, founder of Samsung, and the late Lee In-hee, a former advisor to Hansol Group, and he became chairman of Hansol Group in 2002.
◇ The eldest son is in charge of group strategy, the son-in-law is managing the core subsidiary
In this context, Jo Sung-min acquired 420,000 shares of Hansol Holdings, the group's holding company, for about 1 billion won from the 18th to the 22nd of last month. As a result, Jo's equity in Hansol Holdings increased from 3% to 4%.
While the scale of the stock purchase is not large, industry experts view this acquisition by Jo as a 'signal for the third generation succession.'
Jo, who graduated from Princeton University with a degree in economics, worked as a researcher at an asset management company before joining Hansol Holdings in 2016. He moved to Hansol Paper in 2019 and was promoted to an executive in 2021, leading the company's eco-friendly business. Last October, he was appointed vice president of Hansol Holdings and is currently overseeing the group's planning and strategy under his father, Chairman Jo.
Han Kyung-rok, the son-in-law of Chairman Jo, was appointed as the CEO on the 1st of last month, transitioning from the head of the printing and thermal paper division at Hansol Paper. At that time, there was speculation in the market that the chairman's eldest son, who is working as the vice president of Hansol Holdings, had been surpassed by the son-in-law in becoming the representative of the core subsidiary, but this was not the case.
This structure exists because Jo, as vice president at Hansol Holdings, is responsible for planning group strategies and controlling the entire group, while Han, as the representative of the core subsidiary, supports Chairman Jo and Vice President Jo.
Han, who worked in the global finance and investment sector at foreign financial companies and Korea Investment Corporation, joined Hansol Group in 2014. Since then, he has taken on roles in strategy, marketing, and overseas business within the group.
Jo Na-young (41), the eldest daughter of Chairman Jo and Han's wife, is currently not involved in the management of Hansol Group. Jo, who majored in art history in the United States, previously worked as a curator at the Samsung Leeum Museum of Art. Both Han and his wife do not currently hold equity in Hansol Holdings.
◇ Low equity ratio of 4%, improving performance is a challenge
Hansol Group controls subsidiaries such as Hansol Paper, Hansol Technics, Hansol Logistics, Hansol Home Deco, Hansol Paper Tech, and Hansol PNS through its holding company, Hansol Holdings.
Chairman Jo is the largest shareholder with a 17.23% stake in Hansol Holdings, while Jo holds 4%. To succeed management, Vice President Jo faces the challenge of raising this low equity percentage of 4%. Currently, it is being discussed that he may secure funds to purchase shares of Hansol Holdings directly, or consider an equity acquisition approach using unlisted companies.
A governance expert noted, "If Vice President Jo has a significant equity stake in an unlisted company, or if he establishes a new company to merge with the group's listed company, he could consider ways to increase his stake in Hansol Holdings." However, until now, no companies have been publicly identified where Vice President Jo holds a significant equity stake.
The recovery of major subsidiary performances is also cited as a task for Vice President Jo, who will lead Hansol Group in the future. Last year, Hansol Paper's operating profit plummeted by 63%, and it continues to experience a downturn this year. For the third quarter, Hansol Paper reported cumulative sales of 1.65 trillion won, a 2.4% increase compared to the previous year, while operating profit fell by 6.9% to 34.7 billion won.
For the third quarter, Hansol Logistics recorded sales of 516.1 billion won and operating profit of 18.7 billion won, representing declines of 5.4% and 24%, respectively, compared to the previous year. Similarly, sales (87.5 billion won) and operating profit (3.22 billion won) of Hansol Technics also saw reductions of 15.1% and 38.5%.