Office furniture corporations Fursys is reorganizing its governance structure and accelerating advance work for succession. With the succession lineup effectively settled, the share of internal transactions and the transaction structure are changing around affiliates run by the second-generation Oner. However, some say strategies to reverse the company's declining performance have yet to materialize.
According to the electronic disclosure system on the 22nd, in May last year Fursys Holdings, which had served as the holding company, carried out a spin-off into Fursys Holdings (surviving entity) and Fursys Holdings (new entity). Fursys Holdings engaged in real estate leasing and other service businesses, and Fursys Holdings transferred investment assets. Fursys Holdings converted into a pure holding company holding 33.57% equity in Fursys, the group's key affiliate.
Fursys Group has a dualized governance structure centered on the founder and the second generation. With Chairman Son Dong-chang, who founded Fursys, at the top, a structure of Fursys Holdings→Fursys forms the group's core control axis. Son holds 99.04% equity in Fursys Holdings, Fursys's largest shareholder, and exerts influence over Fursys. Son also directly holds 16.7% equity in Fursys.
At the other pole is Son's eldest son, President Son Tae-hee. Son holds 29.11% of Ilroom shares, classified as other related parties to Fursys. He sits at the top of a governance chain of Son→Ilroom→Sidiz. Sidiz is a listed company classified as another related party to Fursys. Baros, which handles logistics, construction, and after-sales service within the group, is also under Son's control. The structure places Fursys under Chairman Son and the other affiliates under President Son.
Market watchers say advance work for group succession is underway centered on the two governance poles. Through the shift to a holding-company structure, the group is simplifying governance while simultaneously unwinding past inter-affiliate funding borrowings and increasing internal transactions. The prevailing view is that this is typical pre-succession housekeeping to sort out financial and transaction relationships ahead of any future equity movements or management control transfer.
Ilroom reorganized its financial structure by settling large internal borrowings. In 2023, 13 billion won in repayment of short-term borrowings from Fursys Holdings was fully extinguished in 2024. This ended the structure of direct funding from the holding company. The size of related-party transactions, including sales, purchases, and service fees, increased from 176.2 billion won in 2023 to 194.9 billion won in 2024. It is interpreted that, within the succession framework, business roles within the group are being maintained and reorganized around affiliates controlled by the second generation.
Sidiz also increased the size of related-party transactions. The size of related-party transactions in 2024 was 139.1 billion won, but by the third quarter last year it had reached about 219.7 billion won, surpassing the previous year's level. During the same period, service expense also rose, increasing reliance on affiliates for core business functions such as logistics and construction. Tied to the group-level restructuring trend of converting to a holding company and resolving internal borrowings, analysts say this is a process of reorganizing the transaction structure in the pre-succession transfer stage.
While succession work proceeds, external results are trending downward. Fursys posted third-quarter sales of 80.1 billion won last year, down 13.6% from a year earlier. It swung to a loss with an operating loss of 2 billion won. Sidiz also saw third-quarter sales last year of 46.5 billion won, down 3.7% from a year earlier. The cumulative operating loss for the third quarter last year reached about 6 billion won.
Industry officials cite overseas markets as the card for a performance rebound, given the clear limits to domestic growth. As of 2024, Fursys and Sidiz held domestic market shares of 6.31% and 3.41%, respectively. The gap with Hanssem and Livart, which each exceed a 30% share, is large.
An industry official said, "Fursys has secured distribution networks in 38 countries, and Sidiz also exports products to more than 20 countries, so there is room to expand exports in the mid to long term," adding, "It is time for concrete alternatives and strategies for growth overseas."