South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor’s CEO Kim Choong-ho said Friday that the company would consider how to improve its governance.
“It is too early to say what we will do, but we will take the matter seriously and reflect it on our future management according to our conditions,” Kim said at the 47th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of Hyundai Motor at the carmaker’s headquarters in southern Seoul.
Kim’s comment came as shareholders asked the management to establish a committee and improve the governance structure and better protect the rights of minor shareholders.
 |
| Hyundai Motor president Kim Choong-ho speaks at a shareholders’ meeting at the carmaker’s headquarters in southern Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap) |
“We request that one of the outside directors be appointed to lead the committee and communicate with all shareholders on a regular basis. Such movements will help Hyundai’s governance structure and meet global standards,” said Park Yoo-kyung, an executive at the Netherlands-based pension fund Algemene Pensioen Groep, Europe’s second-largest pension fund and a long-term Hyundai investor.
Park suggested that the committee should also review managerial plans and tackle issues of minor shareholders.
“I believe that my requests are quite conventional in other parts of the world,” she said.
Park’s request came as tensions were high among shareholders who voiced up against the conglomerate’s managerial decision.
The National Pension Service, the country’s largest investor, on Wednesday disapproved of the reappointment of nonstanding board members at Kia Motors and Hyundai Mobis, citing that their consent to Hyundai’s extravagant land deal worth 10.6 trillion won ($9.4 billion) last September caused the company’s stock price plummet.
Such moves by the NPS were expected to attract similar voices from institutional and large shareholders at the Friday meeting. The NPS is the group’s second-largest shareholder, owning 7.01 percent of Hyundai Motor, 7.04 percent of Kia and 8.02 percent of Hyundai’s largest affiliate, Mobis.
However, the shareholders unanimously decided to reappoint Hyundai Motor CEO Yoon Gap-han as an inside board member, as well as two others as an outside board member and an auditor. The board members at the Hyundai Mobis were also reappointed.
Meanwhile, the world’s fifth-largest carmaker announced a blueprint to sell a total of 5.05 million units of cars worldwide and invest in future projects including improvement in gas mileage and development of eco-friendly cars.
“Due to the slowed-down economy and deflation as well as competition created among developing countries, the market is tougher than ever,” company chairman Chung Mong-koo stated in the booklet released at the meeting.
“But we will strive to secure original technologies and keep our status in the global market.”
By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)
