Kim Jung-soo, chair of Samyang Foods, donated a loan of 80 billion won and 200,000 shares to two children.
Samyang Foods said on the 4th that Chair Kim signed a stock collateral agreement to borrow 80 billion won from IBK Securities and Korea Securities Finance, and would donate 200,000 shares, including the debt, to son Jeon Byung-woo, chief operating officer (COO) of Samyang Foods, and daughter Jeon Ha-young, allocating 171,500 shares and 28,500 shares, respectively. The donation date is on the 6th of next month.
After the donation, Chair Kim's equity stake will drop from 283,488 shares (3.76%) to 83,488 shares (1.11%). By contrast, son Jeon, the executive vice president, will rise from 44,750 shares (0.59%) to 216,250 shares (2.87%), and daughter Jeon will rise from 4,000 shares (0.05%) to 32,500 shares (0.43%). As a result, Executive Vice President Jeon's equity stake becomes the second highest after father Jeon In-jang, former chair, at 3.13% (236,000 shares).
Born in 1994, Executive Vice President Jeon joined Samyang Foods in 2019 as Director General of the global business division, was promoted to director in 2020 to become an executive within a year, and was then promoted to senior managing director in 2023 and to executive vice president last year. Born in 1995, daughter Jeon Ha-young is not involved in corporate management.
Some say this donation by Chair Kim is a move to pave the way for transferring management control to Executive Vice President Jeon. The decision came three days after Kim took office as chair.
Chair Kim transferred shares to the children but reduced the gift tax burden through a "donation with assumption of debt," using a stock-collateralized loan. A donation with assumption of debt is a method in which the donee assumes the debt secured by the donated property, and it is used as a gift tax saving measure.