At the extraordinary shareholders' meeting that Kolmar Holdings, the holding company of Kolmar Group, held on the 29th, an agenda item to appoint three people, including Kolmar Korea Chairman Yun Dong-han, as inside directors was voted down. With this, in the management control dispute within the Kolmar Group among Chairman Yun; Kolmar BNH CEO Yun Yeowon, his daughter; and Kolmar Holdings Vice Chairman Yun Sang-hyun, what remains is only the stock return claim lawsuit that Chairman Yun filed against Vice Chairman Yun.
At the Kolmar Holdings extraordinary shareholders' meeting held on the morning of the 29th at the Industry-University-Research Cluster Support Center in Sejong Special Self-Governing City, the agenda to appoint three inside directors—including Chairman Yun and former Kolmar BNH CEOs Kim Chi-bong and Kim Byung-mook—was voted down. Chairman Yun, Vice Chairman Yun, and CEO Yun did not appear at the meeting site that day.
The Kolmar Group management control dispute is an internal power struggle that began after founder Chairman Yun Dong-han handed over management control to his eldest son, Vice Chairman Yun Sang-hyun, and then, together with his second child, Kolmar BNH CEO Yun Yeowon, attempted to return to the board.
Kolmar Holdings began the extraordinary shareholders' meeting 18 minutes later than the originally planned 10 a.m., confirmed the number of shares held by attending shareholders, and proceeded to vote on agenda item No. 1, the appointment of three directors including Chairman Yun. The appointment of the three as inside directors failed because it did not meet both a majority of attending shareholders and one-quarter of the total issued shares in favor.
Earlier, Chairman Yun, in the form of a shareholder proposal, pushed to newly appoint 10 inside and outside directors in an attempt to restructure the board. However, ahead of the shareholders' meeting, seven people—including Kolmar BNH CEO Yun Yeowon; KolmarSC CEO Yu Cha-young; Kolmar BNH Executive Vice President Yu Jeong-cheol; Managing Director Jo Young-ju; Senior Managing Director Choi Min-han; and outside directors Park Jeong-chan and Kwon Young-sang—voluntarily resigned, weakening internal momentum. The industry is interpreting the outcome of the extraordinary shareholders' meeting as the closing step of the management control battle. Chairman Yun also disclosed the previous day, through a filing with the Financial Supervisory Service, that he had gifted to CEO Yun approximately 9.8 billion won worth of Kolmar BNH equity.
However, the stock return claim lawsuit that Chairman Yun filed against Vice Chairman Yun is still ongoing. The first hearing was held at the Seoul Central District Court on the 23rd, and the next date is set for Dec. 11. As a result of this shareholders' meeting, management control has shifted to Vice Chairman Yun Sang-hyun, but it appears more time will be needed for the governance conflict within the Kolmar Group to be fully resolved due to the ripple effects of the legal dispute.