Binggrae has set its sibling management system in motion in earnest, using the absorption merger of Haitai Ice Cream Co. as a springboard. While President Kim Dong-hwan, the eldest son of Chairman Kim Ho-Youn, oversees overall headquarters operations including business strategy and marketing, President Kim Dong-man, the younger son, has taken charge of overseas business to seek new growth engines. With the two brothers sharing the same president rank and each responsible for different areas, some say future management results will become a key variable in the succession landscape.
According to related industry sources on the 22nd, Binggrae has pushed forward with phased integration efforts since acquiring Haitai Ice Cream Co. in 2020 for about 140 billion won, including joint marketing, logistics integration, and the introduction of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Then, in Apr. this year, it fully completed the absorption merger procedures for Haitai Ice Cream Co., unifying the organization and work systems into one.
The merger is viewed, from a business perspective, as a strategy to secure economies of scale in Korea's ice cream market. At the same time, for the owner family, it became a turning point as President Kim Dong-man, who had built management experience at Haitai Ice Cream Co., joined Binggrae's headquarters leadership. If until now President Kim Dong-hwan trained in management at Binggrae and President Kim Dong-man did so at Haitai Ice Cream Co., they are now competing on performance while dividing roles within the same corporation.
◇ Business strategy vs. overseas expansion of territory… division of roles
Born in 1983, President Kim Dong-hwan graduated from the economics department of Underwood International College (UIC) at Yonsei University, worked at EY Hanyoung, and joined Binggrae in 2014. After serving in key departments such as procurement, marketing, and corporate planning, he was promoted to president in Mar. 2024. He now serves as the companywide control tower for corporate planning and strategy, as well as marketing.
The biggest task given to Kim is improving profitability. Binggrae posted 1.4896 trillion won in consolidation sales last year, up 1.8% from a year earlier, but operating profit fell 32.7% to 88.4 billion won. In the first quarter of this year, it recorded 312.3 billion won in sales and 13.7 billion won in operating profit, beating market expectations, but with raw and subsidiary material prices rising and consumption slowing, profitability recovery remains a challenge.
In particular, how much synergy can be created in production, logistics, and marketing after the absorption merger of Haitai Ice Cream Co. is expected to be an important benchmark for evaluating Kim's management capability.
Born in 1987, President Kim Dong-man graduated from Tufts University and served as an Air Force officer. He then handled Gmarket marketing at eBay Korea. After that, he went through Binggrae's logistics affiliate Jettime and joined Haitai Ice Cream Co. in 2023 as senior executive vice president, overseeing overall management.
In 2023, the first year Kim participated in management at Haitai Ice Cream Co., company sales were 199.1 billion won, up 13.8% from a year earlier, and operating profit was 15.3 billion won, up 176.4%. Growth then slowed. In 2024, sales inched up 0.3% to 199.7 billion won, while operating profit fell 20.4% to 12.2 billion won. Last year, it recorded 187.6 billion won in sales and 7.9 billion won in operating profit, down 6.1% and 35.1%, respectively.
The overseas business that Kim will oversee after moving to headquarters is considered a core growth pillar for Binggrae. Korea's ice cream market has limited growth potential due to low birthrates, population decline, and slowing consumption, but overseas markets are expanding quickly.
In fact, Binggrae's export sales rose from 125.3 billion won in 2023 to 154 billion won in 2024 and 172.1 billion won in 2025, a 37.4% increase over two years. Frozen product export sales also increased 44% over the same period, and first-quarter export sales this year were 53.4 billion won.
Kim faces the task of establishing not only Merona and Bungeo Samanco—existing export standouts—but also Haitai Ice Cream Co.'s flagship brands such as Bravo Cone and Babamba in overseas markets.
◇ Equity is on equal footing… ultimately, performance decides
Judging by the current equity structure alone, the succession picture is still foggy. Chairman Kim Ho-Youn, the largest shareholder, holds 39.06% of Binggrae, but Presidents Kim Dong-hwan and Kim Dong-man and eldest daughter Kim Jeong-hwa do not directly hold Binggrae equity.
The equity structure of Jettime, the logistics affiliate considered the key link for preparing succession funds, is effectively even. Jettime holds 2.11% of Binggrae, while President Kim Dong-hwan owns 33.34%, and President Kim Dong-man and Kim Jeong-hwa each own 33.33%.
The industry expects that, for the time being, management performance rather than equity will be the key criterion for assessing the succession lineup. An industry official said, "At this point, it is hard to say the succession structure has tilted to one side," adding, "Who produces clearer results in domestic and overseas business will be a key factor in determining the future succession structure."